I just got a letter from a prisoner in California who got a disciplinary write-up because he refused to bunk with a cellie who’d been exposed to COVID.

It started when they put a guy who’d just transferred from another prison into his cell.

Then in November they tried to put another guy in his cell instead - and this one he was worried might have been exposed to COVID by an infected staff member where he’d been housed

“Living in a cell with another inmate makes it impossible to practice physical distance... the real reason CDCR will not approve single cell status is due to the financial burden it would cause to keep from stacking bodies on top of each other.”

In mid November, he had a disciplinary hearing with an officer with no mask, and he was found guilty of refusing a cell assignment.

Then, a CO wrote that he’d wasted 15 minutes finding the other guy a new cell and that the guy should be transferred to a different facility for failure to meet program expectations

The guy says he has been disciplinary free for 11 years - but in this case, he was particularly afraid because he’s already had one COVID death in the family and his father has been sick for several months.

He filed a grievance asking to, among other things, have everyone be single celled till they’re vaccinated.

It was denied.