Murray Unit, Gatesville, Texas
1 year in solitary / ad seg
Alexis
GUERECA
March 8, 2024
Words by ALEXIS GUERECA
Photography by TEXAS LETTERS
My name is Alexis Guereca. I’m 29 years old. And I’ve been housed in Ad-Seg (Restrictive Housing) for a year and six months. During my time down here I have experienced and seen things I never would of thought could happen in Reality. The living environment is beyond that of a caged animal. My life Revolves around the officers time. My shower time if they feel like doing showers. Our Rec time has been Reduced to two days out of the we. We are allotted one-two hours a day of Rec time but we have been told now starting as of three months ago that we can go to Rec only twice a week. They have given up on passing out coffee in the mornings. Being that it takes too much work to get the coffee containers on the carts. We are not given juice at meal time either for the exact same reason. This is not the most severe living condition we face. Not only do we go without sanitary napkins but some officers won’t give us what we need unless we flirt or do a little dance.
Some of my friends have told me they have experience peeping as well. At midnight count times some male officers will over-stay the time it takes to check on an inmate. I’ve seen it all done myself. And I’m forced to turn a blind eye due to retaliation.
Sometimes I forget one day it will all stop. Not soon enough. I hope my child never has to go through this type of treatment. When we do get a shower they are not clean. I have to try my best to not touch the walls with my body. The inmate janitor rarely clean inside the pods with chemicals due to the officer not wanting to supply them or at times there Really arent any cleaning chemicals. Medical is also not worthy of talk or praise. I have gone to the clinic on three different occasions down here Requesting help for my irregular mentral cycles but due to no staff down here I have not been able to take the Recommended blood testing. Dental is the same. No staff to take us out. Classes are useless. I signed up and was enrolled in Cognitive Life Skills but due to not staff I was only able to attend ⅔ of our time. State soap is also not given when Requested. The officers say there is none. Which leads me to question is there Really none or are the staff being lazy.
I’m locked away in a box worse then a caged dog. I have no voice. But I can talk. An animal cannot talk but yet it is still heard. We are ignored. When will someone speak up for us in Ad-seg.
Alexis Guereca
#02290819