> > Inmates in Braille program able to create  resources for the blind August
> > 26, 2002 The Dallas Morning  News
> >
> > GATESVILLE, Texas ­ To the untrained eye, what  appears on the
>computer
> > screens looks like something out of  a science fiction movie: a seemingly
> > unintelligible pattern of  symbols that could easily pass as an alien
> > language. The reality is a  little more down to Earth. The computers are
> > running software used to  transcribe written text into Braille, a system
>of
> > writing for  the blind using arrangements of raised dots to represent
> > letters  and numbers.
> >
> > More unusual, perhaps, is who's doing the work.  The women intently
> > focusing on the displays are inmates at the  Mountain View prison unit in
> > Central Texas.
> >
> > They recently began  work on a fourth-grade geography book and two
> > first-grade textbooks for  the Texas Education Agency. The books will be
> > used by  blind students in the state.
> >
> > Delores Billman, the plant  manager who oversees the Braille program at
> > Mountain View, said she hopes  to have the textbooks finished within a
>month.
> >
> > Cheryl  Davis, working on a music manuscript, is part of a group of
>Central
> > Texas  inmates learning Braille. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice
> > first  began teaching Braille transcription to female inmates in
> > 1999.  The program, unique in the Texas prison system, is designed to
> > provide a  public service by producing Braille publications. And inmates
> > who  ultimately will be released back into society learn a  marketable
>skill.
> >
> > "We want to have something for them to  do while they are here but also
>get
> > them ready for the outside,"  Ms. Billman said.
> >
> > In the outside world, Braille  transcription is typically contract work
> > that can pay from $5 to  $10 per page, depending on the transcriber's
>skill
> > level. And as  prison jobs go, there's worse.
> >
> > Texas inmates still stoop over  sun-baked fields with hoes in hand, tend
>to
> > livestock, swelter in  prison laundries, build furniture and produce
> > license  plates.
> >
> >
> > Two inmates who recently were working together at  a computer terminal,
> > Jennifer Ramsey and Pamela Bernard, labored  in the prison's boiler room
> > before joining the Braille program. Both are  serving prison sentences for
> > murder.
> >
> > Another participant,  Angela Brewer, who is serving time for drug and
> > attempted-burglary  offenses, spent
> > 20 months swinging a hoe before she was  accepted.
> >
> > Inmates in the Braille program are out of the  heat, working at computer
> > stations that wouldn't appear out of  place in an insurance office.
> >
> > "We already have the stresses of  being in prison that we have to deal
>with
> > constantly, and this job  gives you time to yourself," said Adriana Rizo,
> > 23, who is serving  a 50-year murder sentence. "You can come in here, work
> > all day. You have  time to yourself . time to let go."
> >
> > Prison officials  screen candidates for the program, looking for offenders
> > with relatively  high IQ's and good disciplinary records.
> >
> > Learning how to  transcribe Braille isn't easy. Each character, known as a
> > cell, uses up  to six dots. The participants must memorize the patterns
>for
> > nearly  200 contractions, as well as a variety of rules for usage and
> > formatting.
> >
> > Ms. Billman said the inmates are  practicing transcriptions of books.
> >
> > "It takes anywhere  from two to five years to get ready to actually
>produce
> > Braille," she  said. "And we're just now going into the phase where we're
> > actually ready."
> >
> > The inmates learn how to read the coding  produced by the software
>program.
> >
> > "It doesn't look  anything like your regular alphabet," said Ms. Ramsey.
> > "You have to train  your whole brain to think about something totally
> > different."
> >
> > Actually being able to "read" the raised  dots transferred to pages of
> > thermoformed plastic, as the blind  can, is another matter.
> >
> > Inmates must memorize patterns for about  200 contractions, as well as a
> > variety of rules for usage and  formatting. A sighted person, Ms. Rizo
> > explained, has to fight the urge  to look at the dots. Some of the women
> > also have come to the program  after months to years of manual labor in
> > other prison  jobs; callouses don't make reading Braille any easier.
> >
> > So  far, 14 inmates and Ms. Billman have been certified by the Library of
> > Congress in "Literary Braille Transcription" ­ transcribing general,
> > nonscientific literature. Some inmates have moved on to  other
>assignments,
> > but she and 10 offenders are  completing instruction in a Library of
> > Congress  correspondence course that focuses on transcribing mathematics
> > and  scientific texts into Braille.
> >
> > Other courses that are available  through the Library of Congress teach
> > participants how to transcribe  music notation and proofread. Ms. Billman
> > said that she expects  inmates to take on that training as well in the
> > future.
> >
> > Inmates also try their hand at creating  "tactile" pictures to accompany
> > the text, using materials such as  sandpaper and seeds to create images or
> > maps that can be envisioned  through touch.
> >
> > "We've done some examples, played around with it,  just to get an idea of
> > what we can do," said Ms. Bernard,
> > 30, who  is serving a 60-year sentence.
> >
> > When transcribers encounter an  illustration in a book, they may decide to
> > add a tactile picture or  include a transcriber's note in the Braille text
> > explaining what's  in the illustration.
> >
> > Inside the prison's perimeter, the work  offers a sense of purpose and a
> > reprieve from despair.
> >
> > Ms.  Ramsey, 27, is serving a life sentence and has already spent nearly a
> > decade behind bars. She said she started learning Braille as a step
>toward
> > rehabilitation, to "do something positive with  my life."
> >
> > Ms. Billman discussed one inmate who was heavily  on medication when she
> > came to the program. She questioned whether  the inmate could perform even
> > simple tasks.
> >
> > "I had her  gluing some little envelopes together, and everybody kept
> > saying, 'Give  her a chance,' " Ms. Billman recalled. "And I said, 'She
> > can't even  stay awake, and you think she's going to learn this?'  "
> >
> > But the inmate got her chance to learn  Braille.
> >
> > "She has excelled," Ms. Billman said. "She's come  off all of her
> > medication. She's one of my best  Braille transcribers."
> >
> > For many of the inmates, she said,  the program "gives them a reason to
>get
> >  up."


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