Transcript
Inmate Organs Plasma Donor Project 2020 Life is fleeting. It seems like only yesterday that my sentence of death was made public in a San Diego courtroom – that was nearly two decades ago. With few delusions of reprieve, and even less in the way of faith in our mighty 'just-us' system, I find myself faced with a deliberate rehabilitative aspiration – becoming vocal and visible from beyond prison walls in the life-saving conversation, all while drowning in the shallow end of the pool. Lately I've been losing sleep, wondering why it is that I tend to see things so differently from other people. Admittedly, at times I find it rather difficult to be truthful, not just with principles, but with myself. That said, I feel this article may fall upon some deaf ears. I'm okay with that. Call it provisional knowledge and/or choosing societal demand over personal ambition. I suspect it'll get filtered through myriad partisan sieves, implicitly examined to determine fact from fiction, and whose interest it serves, only then to be swallowed whole, or spit out like old gum on that basis alone. No 'fake news' here when I say that this nation's Covid-19 response has been an utter, vast, and humiliating disaster on so many levels. The logistics alone are daunting, I get it. But, all viruses mutate as they infect populations far and wide, and well... no surprise SARS-CoV-2 is certainly without exception. America continues to confront enormous unfamiliar challenges, and much of the stress is derived from our constant need to adapt to new intel. Early on some folks stepped on their zippers while arguing that we'd see nothing more than the equivalent of a bad flu season or two. Oh' how this shitty virus proved them horribly wrong, huh? Thank you China. Combined with that ignorance, a new learning curve emerged in our political culture. Sadly, we've grown accustomed to intense politicized conflict over how we might avoid contact with our new reality. Even our own stupid president, "Captain Comb-Over" remains blindfolded, yet somehow particularly adept at manufacturing these same pseudo-realities and bending world views to align themselves with his ego – downplaying the risks associated with contracting and spreading this viral killing machine we all know as Covid-19. In the midst of this crisis, humanity must remain flexible and continue to acquaint itself with new evidence, conforming our responses to the reality of the pandemic itself, regardless what we 'think' about it personally. Fact is, knowledge could just be part of this same ever-changing learning curve. The jury is still out on this. Where then shall we turn to get an honest assessment of the facts as we know them, while striving to address our formidable challenges ahead? How do we minimize human costs and our economic burdens? Unfortunately, for each and every seemingly-deliberate peek into Covid-19, more questions invariably surface while others linger. Look, I'm not about to explain the stark differences in societal experiences with this virus, that's not what this is about. I'm also not trying to explain why some folks can simply fight it off while others surrender their lives to it. Clearly, clinical outcomes are dramatic. Truth is, an effective vaccine may be the only way out of this global pandemic – unpredictable and imperfect from each individual's beneficial standpoints, perhaps even waning over time. A lull of uncertainty exists in this panorama – an open window wedged between contraction of the virus itself, and the would-be promise of a vaccine. Both federal and state health officials remain actively engaged in dialogue about immunity as well as various convalescent therapies. One such stream of consciousness surrounds the use of donor plasma; the straw-colored liquid portion of the blood which serves as the medium that transports blood cells containing proteins, nutrients, and oxygen throughout our bodies. In the wake of Covid's reign of terror, I'd envision a solution capable of circumventing political polarization. There's just no time for red-tape bureaucratic enemas of sunshine. We'd like to bridge the gap and build the capacity to merge two industry giants – the American Red Cross and state prison systems across this country in a life-saving collaboration whereby antibody-rich donor plasma is made available by Covid-recovered state prisoners on an inducement-free voluntary basis. A concept everyone has most-likely heard about is 'Herd Immunity'. If enough people acquire immunity, the Covid killing machine runs out of gas and eventually burns itself out. While this effort's potential effectiveness would be particularly modest in the people we are most eager to protect; the elderly and immunocompromised, we cannot forget that in a country as openly-expansive and mobile as ours, we will only ever be as healthy as our sickest fellow state. There is a minor stumbling block standing in our path. Apparently, blood and plasma recovery agencies have a ridiculous protocol in-place which precludes anyone with 72 consecutive hours or more in custody from making blood and/or plasma contributions. This is particularly disheartening, when no-doubt it is just a waiver in the making. This proposed giving sense of community is a call for empathy, not apathy. Facilitating licensed convalescent donor plasma recovery presents opportunities for clinical trials and investigational usage – a process which inevitably serves to protect humanity against threats of emerging infectious diseases. Setting stigma aside, not all prisoners are devoid redeeming qualities, Many like myself, understand that healing is [our] shared responsibility. As such, Inmate Organs and assorted organizations and agencies in our respective fold will be working to compel industry experts to waive the prisoner deferment policy and move to implement inmate donor plasma recovery on the heels of Covid-19. Thank You, Michael Flinner CSP-SQSP San Quentin, California. 94964 inmateorgans@web.de facebook.com/Inmate Organs
