Blind Teen Thanks Folsom Inmates for Helping Her Succeed

[The Straight Story]

Blind Teen Thanks Folsom Inmates for Helping Her Succeed
Written for the web by Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer


For nine-year-old Amelia Diaz, blinded by glaucoma at birth, reading was often an insurmountable challenge.

Now, nine years later, Diaz is a student at CSU Fullerton She credits the efforts of a group of Folsom State Prison inmates with helping her succeed academically and prepare for the rest of her life.

Last week, Diaz visited Folsom Prison for the first time to personally thank the 15 inmates who make up the Folsom Project for the Visually Impaired. For the past nine years, those men have been providing the young student with audio recordings and Braille transcripts of everything from school books and pleasure reading to maps used to navigate around campus.

"This program is basically what has gotten me through school and given me the grades that I've needed," Diaz said. "I'm grateful for that."

Since its inception in 1989, the Folsom Project has created hundreds of books on tape for elementary, high school and community college students across California. Nine years ago, Amelia's mother Rosa contacted the program to help her daughter, whose voracious appetite for books quickly exceeded what was available to the Anaheim child.

http://www.kxtv.com/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=15284

[zbdent]

1. I guess that the RW idea that the "criminal element is of no use to

society" really doesn't fly with this one . . .

[NorCalDem]

2. I wonder if any of those inmates have gotten credit for their work

or at least shorter sentences. Good to see that at least a few prisons take the "rehabilitation" part somewhat seriously.