November 17, 2014
Madison has an area of the prison that houses blind inmates. Every blind inmate is assigned a blind-aid worker; these workers escort the blind inmates to and from places in the compound, like the chow hall, recreation, the doctor, etc. These blind-aid workers go everywhere and do everything with their assigned blind inmate. At the chow hall, the aid worker walks the blind to a seat, and then brings their food to the table, informing them of what they're eating and the location of each item. Sometimes I'll see them in places like the weight lifting room, or music room, or just walking the track. I have no idea how many prisons in Ohio house the blind, this maybe the only one, or maybe all prisons house the blind, but there are certainly a great many of them here, guessing, I would say at least thirty blind men, maybe even more. I often wonder just what exactly some of these men are in prison for, not that a blind man can't break the law, but just how many laws are they capable of breaking? This isn't at all a type of blast statement, but more so a curious thought. One has to wonder how a man incapable of functioning without help from others can possibly get into too much trouble, unless they're involved in the use of drugs, or holding them or selling them. I could be very wrong; some of them could be in here for murder, or rape, or anything else any other man with the ability to see can do. I'm not going to just walk up to any of them and ask them why they're in prison, so I guess I'll never know. I'll just have to stick with my imagination.
Steven Dybvad
