We apologize and must correct the week of 6-13 story that Cruz had full a/c on A, B, and C yards. It seems our usual “reliable” staff person had not told the whole story. Fortunately, the gals on Cruz wrote in and let us know that was erroneous. T
here are TENTS on A, B, and C that are fully air-conditioned, with room for about 12 chairs inside. The women are only allowed 10 minutes to cool off, then they must leave. Of course, there is the ubiquitous draconian guard with watch in hand to make sure they don’t overstay their 10 minutes!
Further investigation revealed Cruzers are NOT getting the ice they got last year. With Channel 12’s Erica Stapleton breathing down the DOC’s neck last year, the girls were getting a full 7lb bag of ice, now they report the amount is little more than a cup. The misters are up, but only after Thornell made an appearance.
The women allege the guards are still fudging the temp numbers….and….well…nothing ever changes does it?
Disgusting as usual.
All the money they get and still no AC!!!
Thank you for the correction! Seeing mis-information on my first visit to this site was very discouraging. I visit my inmate daughter 1-2 times weekly and the only respite from the heat is being able to be in visitation room for the 4 hours of visit time.
We do our best to be accurate, however good information can be elusive at times. We appreciate it when our readers point out where might have gone astray.
Well done on working out a way to give your daughter a few hours of A/C each week.
Thank you so much for being part of this effort! So many things can be done better with the “system” and your involvement is so appreciated!
This is disgusting granted I was on Carlos I have been out of incarceration for over 5 years not just the AC but the medical care the inmates get is sad especially because tax payers pay for it yet we didn’t and they still don’t give proper care to inmates I was pregnant and I needed a shot in my hip weekly to stop me going into early labor all my babies have been early and I expressed this to the doctor and they wouldn’t get me the shot and I went in at 6 weeks and got out at almost 6 months pregnant I got out Feb 3rd my son’s due date was end of June I had him April 8 at 31 weeks because I didn’t get the proper care I almost had to have an emergency c section and both of us had so many complications that could have been prevented so many things wrong with our system yet they give the inmates suboxen now which is just gonna make addicts in recovery addicted to another substance what’s gonna happen when they get out and can’t find suboxen doctors anywhere they will end up relapsing! We need to help these women we need better reentry programs going to half way houses makes it so much easier to relapse we never a better system offer more these girls are not horrible people alot of them are fighting something that is bigger then them we don’t just lock them away we need to help them I am almost 6 years clean but it wasn’t because prison helped me there were drugs there it was because I wanted to be clean and stay clean these girls are not their mistakes they made why do they have to suffer with AC and fans these cells still get up to 90 degrees in the winter if u are in R&A they don’t give you jackets I would have to go to breakfast at 430 am freezing cold miserable just a short and pants no sweater no jackets it was to cold to stay outside for our 2 hour rec without jackets The bathrooms are extremely humid and so hot u can’t even shower and the cells are the same they get so humid and barely get any air when they do have it but if the AC isn’t working u give them 10 min of cooling time 10 min are u kidding me!! What are we paying our taxes for to makes these girls suffer 🙁 we need to help these inmates!!
UPDATE ON SANTA CRUZ 7/25/2024
All of the ice machines are NON-functional on Cruz and inmates are once again being forced to purchase ice. $2 for a 5lb bag of ice that by the time they can get it back to their rooms has melted significantly. For those on C yard that means they are required to walk 1/2 mile with no shade to stand in line to purchase.
The cooling tents that were set up at the beginning of the summer do not have functioning A/C.
The tap water is scalding hot and has a foul odor and taste.
What can we do to help these women on Cruz?
My daughter just told me the tents have cooling but they are being dominated by the violent inmates/bullies. They are not monitored by the guards so it is a free for all at best.
There are 4 yards at Cruz. Each yard has 1 cooling tent with a capacity of 20. There are 192 inmates per yard. Each inmate can be in the tent (when available) for 5 minutes to “cool down”. They cannot be in the tents during lockdown and are forced to be in their 95 degree plus cells.