UPDATE: they turned the AC on!  Great job folks.

An incarcerated firefighter told us yesterday that her and her crew have been sequestered ("quarentined") in a building with over 100 other people, and it's 90-95 degrees inside.  This puts people at serious risk of dehydration from sweating.

The firefighters have their own housing building, but for some reason the gaurds placed them in this building, 503, instead.  Besides being sweltering hot, 503 is also the building where women go after arriving from county jail.

There are air vents in 503 but nothing is coming through them.  Does this sound like a quarentine to you?

These women are essential workers who risk their lives and health to suppress deadly fires, and this is how they are treated.  It's totally unacceptable.

Let's come through for them by turning up the heat on the administration.  You can email the warden of CCWF with this loose script (below).  Please keep it respectful: you are not at risk of retaliation but others are.

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To:

Mike.Pallares@cdcr.ca.gov

Email:

Mr. Pallares,

It's come to our attention that some of our brave firefighters have been put in a sweltering hot building with no airflow and over 100 other people.  Somehow this is being done in the name of protecting people from covid19, even though it's sure to have the opposite effect.  Please see that the firefighters are moved back to their regular housing, aka the Firehouse, and that AC and other air ventilation systems in unit 503 are turned on.

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Note: We want to leave room to escalate, so that's why we're starting with just emails.  If nothing changes soon, we'll move to phones and more.

Feel free to let us know that you emailed, or even bcc us on your email: sacramento@incarceratedworkers.org

Please let us know if you get any reply, via our email or in the comments section on this post.