Reading for the Blind

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This sample reading was taken from "The Wednesday Letters," by Jason F. Wright and published by Shadow Mountain. The reading begins on page one of the book, where the Coopers, an ailing older couple in their 70s who own a Bed & Breakfast in Virginia, are retiring for the evening. She has a heart condition, and he is dying of a brain tumor. That evening, they both die sudden but natural deaths. The title comes from their three children's discovery that Mr. Cooper had written a letter to his wife every Wednesday for decades. As the children read those letters, they discover new and shocking things about their parents and themselves.

Reading For The Blind (RFB)

The Reading For the Blind (RFB) program at the Utah State Prison is part of a broader organization: the Program for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Utah State Library Division. This agency served more than 18,000 patrons in 2006 in its direct area of responsibility, and serves more than 70,000 patrons nationally. Utah serves patrons in 20 states.

History of RFB at the Prison

RFB started at the Prison in 1988. It moved to the Oquirrh facility in 1993 and remained there until August 2006. The program was located in the Wasatch VT area until mid-2011 when a donor-funded permanent facility was built inside the prison perimeter. The facility has reading rooms, editing areas, tape duplication equipment and repair facilities for cassette players and on-site equipment. The Reading For the Blind program read hundreds of books each year that are then added to the library's collection. Offenders in the program also repair nearly 2,000 pieces of equipment.

Employees

There are more than 20 Reading for the Blind employees. That includes readers, editors, repair, duplication and quality control. The average wage for an inmate is $0.45/hr, which is paid by the Department of Corrections. The State Library estimates the average salary to do the same job on the streets is about $18.50/hr, which means the state saves approximately $52,000 per month.

Digital Recording Program

The Library of Congress National Library Service began recording their books in a digital format. In order for the Utah State Library to be in step with the national program, recording rooms at the library as well as at the prison have been updated to record books in the digital format. Inmates have ben producing digital books since May 2006, but they continue to produce books in older formats to accommodate those with the older technologies.