Words From Inside Bergen County Jail

FEBRUARY 2021

Testimony from person detained by ICE at Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, NJ. Originally published on Abolish ICE NY/NJ's social media (Instagram/Twitter: @abolishice _ nynj) Photography from Verona for BLM (Instagram: @veronaforblm)

Right now, guards are entering our jail cells without wearing a mask. After today (02/08/2021), we have four people who have tested positive. So today we had to stand up for ourselves against the guards. They are keeping people who are positive in our unit. Because of this, we are also getting infected together with the guards. They [jail guards] claim that we are infecting each other, but I asked him, how are we infecting ourselves if no one new has been admitted? We are all the same people. The only people who enter and exit the facility are medical staff and guards.

Also, many of the guards who enter this unit in this wing of Bergen County [Jail] do not have a mask, do not use a mask, they speak with others without a mask; so, therefore, the only people who can put us at risk are the guards, and they don’t want to acknowledge that.

ICE used this strategy to argue against my release, they claimed that the facility doctors can treat me.

But how can they treat me if the jail guards are in the facility while infected? How is anyone safe? How can I feel safe while they claim I will not get sick?

The guards enter our facility so carelessly without a mask. The only way for us to get sick is if one of the jail guards enter with the virus. I have a kidney disease, hypertension, and asthma. I cannot risk getting sick. I told the guard, you cannot keep sick people here because other people in this unit have pre-existing health conditions. They are putting all of us at risk of getting sick [COVID19].

Bergen County [Jail] claims everything is under control. But that is a lie. They falsely tell the media they are working to keep safe conditions, but they are not. In five months, I have only been tested twice: when I arrived, and now the second time. And, I was only tested the second time because a young man tested positive who was scheduled for deportation the next day. If that young man would have not been deported, then they would have never known he was positive. They are not doing what is necessary because people can be sick and asymptomatic. We are not given disinfectant. We are only given a blue hand soap, but we cannot disinfect with that. This facility does not have chlorine, nor Mistolin to clean, there is none of that. This facility only has that blue hand soap and we don’t know what it actually is. They always want to hide the truth. But we are the only ones who know the truth. But we are invisible because our word does not matter here.