Georgia Parole Review | Page 6

It is rare that an offender is able to address the Parole Board, outside a revocation hearing. It is even rarer that a paroled offender attends a monthly board meeting. That however happened at the May 5th meeting.

Parolee Randy Davis is a Braille specialist working at Georgia Tech. Davis took time off from work to speak to the Parole Board at the Board’s monthly meeting in Atlanta. It was the Department of Corrections’ Braille Transcribers program that gave Davis an opportunity at a second chance in the free world.

“I had the opportunity to get the position (Georgia Tech) because of prison. I devoted my time to reconstructing who I was,” stated Davis. He says the opportunity to learn Braille transcribing "revealed" itself in Prison. “So I jumped at the opportunity and my journey with Braille began.”

Davis says Georgia’s visually impaired children benefit from the prison Braille program. “The focus of the prison inmate training program is to produce Braille books for those children. It was an opportunity to help another; that was the main draw. The amazing thing is that I received more help than I gave. I’m here today because of that program and the opportunity it gave me. It has afforded me to advance myself and now I’m able to give back by training inmates at other prison Braille programs. That opportunity really helped rebuild my self-esteem.”

Davis is using his skills, learned in prison, on his job working for AMAC Accessibility Solutions and Research Center at Georgia Tech, where Braille textbooks are produced and shipped to customers.

Guy Toles, is Davis' supervisor at AMAC and says, "He's among the most qualified Braille transcribers in the country."

Davis says one of his goals is to further promote prison Braille programs as a means for rehabilitating inmates and assisting them as they re-enter society.

“That’s my greatest joy, to help both sides, the kids that need these materials and the men and women who are getting the opportunity to produce these materials,” in prison, Davis said.

He thanked the Board for providing him the opportunity through a parole release.

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