Accounts From Inside of the Durham County Jail, NC

These stories were consensually shared with SONG Durham from our friends inside of the Durham County Jail, Summer and Fall 2020. Below are some of their unedited accounts:

“The first two weeks I was here I didn’t receive medication or Cpap machine. In the first part food was raw. I have a condition that causes me to pass out. When I asked for assistance CO’s just laughed & left me on the ground. I have a sleep disability & PTSD & some other mental conditions that I cannot receive treatment for while I’m in this facility (The medication I need they won’t provide). My hand is also broken I have a bone poking out the side (I was supposed to have surgery for it.). I go days without sleeping because of my medical condition & I am in constant pain. I have a heart condition & when I was in 3A my chest felt like it was about to explode(I layed on the floor for 6 hours waiting for a nurse/they never came.) I couldn’t move at all so I just slept there (The Correction Officer just kept walking pass like I wasn’t even there.) (They denied my Attorney Request several times in (3A). They weren’t giving me my Cpap machine so every night I was choking in my sleep. Some days the food was raw & I couldn’t eat it. So some days I wouldn’t eat. (A replacement meal was never brought to me.) (The first two weeks we are here we are on 24/7 lockdown in pods they do not clean. I had blood on my bed walls & sink that did not belong to me.) I asked a CO to clean it because I was very concerned about the biohazard. I had throw up under my mattress they wouldn’t clean. The CO came in and sprayed it and walked out (The contents were still there. — Malik Akeem Ziggy Joseph (Time Inside: 2 months, Total Bail/Bond Amount: 1,000,000, Needed for Release: 100,000)

“It has been horrible. They switched our visitation system so now its hard to see family. They feed us crazy. And the CO’s talk to us like we are animals. We have no rights in here and we barely see our lawyers.”- LaDarrious Alston (Time Inside: 10 months, Total Bail/Bond Amount: $5,000, Needed for Release: $350)

“It’s stressful, it’s messing with me mentally, physically, emotionally. Not knowing if or when you’ll ever make it home. Being away from family, kids and loved one’s. They’ve got us coming out half a day when we’ve took the COVID 19 test twice, and there’s no new cases, everyone in here is fine. It’s all a lot to deal with. Thanks for you concern!” — S.J. (Time Inside: 5 months, Total Bail/Bond Amount: $305,000, Needed for Release: $6,000)

“Instead of letting our phone calls to family be free, to rest homes, hospitals, and home as well, they charge us making us buy the phone cards, a 10 dollar card cost 17 dollars, a 20 dollar card cost 27 dollars and if you don’t buy them, they make your family put the money on there phone service, we are here fighting covid-19, a lot of these guys have children who are sick and mothers and fathers too and how anyone can make profit off of sickness and death, don’t have a heart at all and one day should pay for their greed… Are we going to stand by and let people still die and get sick with Covid-19 here in Jail and our Prison System, There was A inmate here in my Pod-4-A who was Rushed To The hospital over A month Ago And they came here A day Ago Packed up his things here in his Room And We All Fear he is dead now, yet No one is informing us Anything About him, he left here with Covid-19. — B.P.

“There are individuals infected with Covid-19 being housed in 3B processing, or are with “suspicion” of the Covid-19 infection. Having no contact with or having no one contact their families.” — B.R. (Time Inside: 39 days, Total Bail/Bond Amount: $150,000, Needed for Release: $5,000)

“I have been incarcerated since the age of 15 and have been in DCJ since a month after my 16th birthday. I have not been seen by a judge since and was offered 12 years. My lawyer is okay but I feel as if he is going to just get me a plea and not work as hard as he should. I think it is because the public defenders have such a huge case load and needs to get cases out the way as soon as possible. I’m currently 19 and attending school in here but my incarceration is hindering my full potential and I’m ready for this phase of my life to end so I can move on.” — R.J. (Time Inside: 40 months, Total Bail/Bond Amount: 250,000, Needed for Release: N/A)

“There are many unfair and unsanitary conditions. They are quick to punish everybody instead of the bad conditions. They have the high school diploma program for young inmates but refuse to bring back the GED program or star program for older inmates trying to better themselves. The jobs in here are limited to people with certain charges and low bods which contradicts the false saying “innocent until proven guilty.” We are all treated like career criminals by the staff. I’ve been in here 70 days and we have only been to court once. We’ve been tested for the coronavirus and we STILL are on a half an hour schedule where they strip time away from our walks for no reason. We are barely allowed an hour of recreation time in the mornings. Our visitations get messed up because apparently the jail wifi is bad. And it’s like they barely feed us in here so the ones who don’t set canteen are suffering and they give us phenylalanine which is known to cause problems mentally and physically.” — H.T. (Time Inside: 7 days, Total Bail/Bond Amount: $1.4 million, Needed for Release: at least $40,000)

“Really dealing with the jail is we sit here waiting for the best and the legal side is TERRIBLE. We sit for days months and years just to get time. We don’t need to be locked up. Some if not ALL of us need “HELP” you fill me. I need help, and I would like to help someone too! … On the other side of beening locked-up is I stay strong ad strive to do my best in here and this world. Over all I’m grateful to be amongst the living to make a difference and move forward.” — B.R. (Time Inside: 7 months, Total Bail/Bond Amount: $10,00 Needed for Release: $400)

“The CO’s are horrible. We’ve barely get time out our rooms and we never come out on time. They take anywhere from 15 minutes to a hour of our time every chance they get. The toilets always breaking and the water comes out black sometimes and it always takes them days to fix stuff. We haven’t had face to face visits since March and the virtual visits always messing up. They got us on half and half until COVID-19 is over even though they’ve tested us twice and our whole block have been cleared TWICE. These people are lazy and miserable and they do their best to make our days here stressful as they can. When people protest outside the jail they lock us down because of it.” — Anonymous

“Stressful! They are very unorganized they work on things at the very last minute. When we go to court federal we are being lock back for 14 day and are only allow to come out every other day for 25 mins. We are lock back for most of the day, which is mentaly fustrating. Visitation has gotten worse since out people can’t come up to see us, the computer screen never seems to work. An sometimes they don’t call us for visits. It’s just very stressful and hard to deal with at times. An I went to fedral court on 10/6/20 and go back 10/13/20 they have lock me back for 14 days confindment to my cell because of COVID-19 and when I go to court on the 13th my 14 days start over I fell as if I shouldn’t have to start my 14 days just because I went to court for a few hours. I wasn’t gone over 24 hours.” — Anonymous

“Stressed out missing my son and my mother and gurl. Tired of being in here I’m stressed to point and just wanna lose it all. Really want my freedom and my life back with my son and my family.” — N.T. (Time Inside: 7 months, Total Bail/Bond Amount: $100,000, Needed for Release: $3,500)