Commissioner: Timothy C. Ward

Director of Public Affairs: Joan Heath

Offenders Translate Textbooks into Braille

FORSYTH, Ga. –  On March 21, Central State Prison (SP) held its Annual Braille Expo, an event used to highlight a unique program that benefits both offenders and citizens. With 25 offenders currently enrolled, the Georgia Braille Transcriber program teaches skills necessary to transcribe textbooks for visually impaired students in grades K-12 across the United States. Those attending the expo were able to watch demonstrations by the offenders who have mastered techniques such as transcribing words into braille, producing individual pages, and transcribing graphics and illustrations.

“Every year, this event gives the offenders a chance to show others how the program is helping them give back,” said Timothy C. Ward, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC). “Not only is the program giving them a sense of purpose, it is also providing them a skill they can use to find a job when released.”

One of 23 prison braille programs across the U.S., the Central SP program has been in place since 2011, and is the only one of it’s kind in Georgia.   After completion of the program, offenders become nationally certified in braille transcription through the Library of Congress. In 2018, GDC offenders translated 700 books and more than 5,000 graphics, totaling more than 76,000 pages translated.

For more information about the National Prison Braille Network please visit https://www.aph.org/pbf/.

For more information on the Braille Program visit https://bit.ly/2VocBhR .

About the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC)

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has one of the largest prison systems in the U.S. and is responsible for supervising nearly 52,000 state prisoners. It is the largest law enforcement agency in the state with approximately 10,500 employees. For more information on the GDC, call 478-992-5247 or visit https://gdc.georgia.gov.

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