KCCC inmates recognized for Braille work

Idaho inmates at KCCC's braille lab

The Library of Congress is recognizing 13 Idaho offenders at Kit Carson Correctional Center for their work with the facility’s braille program. The offenders will receive certificates from the director of the Library of Congress’ librarian and the director of the LOC’s  National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

“The offenders and staff at the facility are very proud of the success of this program,” says KCCC Warden Bobby L. Bonner. It provides great benefits to those who participate, as well as many visually impaired people in our boarder Colorado community.

Learning Braille transcription takes time and effort, and several Idaho inmates have become highly skilled with the process. KCCC’s braille lab works closely with the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind to transcribe text books, many of them at the college level. Some of the science and advanced math textbooks are especially difficult to transcribe but Idaho’s inmates have shown that they are up to the challenge.

“Many of the inmates work every day and even on the weekend to meet the completion due dates for the text books,” says Bonner. The work not only provides them a sense of accomplishments but also with a marketable skill set they can use when they leave prison."

Here are the names of the inmates who will receive Library of Congress certificates:

Collodi, David  84064

Fuerstinger, Robert 83901

Gallion, Eric  71323

Hall, Robert  59295

Knight, Greg  71058

Lake, Shawn  86234

San Nicolas, Joe  68265

Thurmon, Wayne 53780

Green, John  92907

Hernandez, Hector 100514

Neal, James  67870

Rolon, Antonio  68265

Copenhaver, Mike 41558

Kit Carson Correctional Center is a 1,488-bed, medium-custody, men’s prison in Burlington, Colo.  The facility is operated by CCA.

Due a shortage of prison beds in Idaho, 234 inmates under the jurisdiction of the Idaho Department of Correction are incarcerated at KCCC.