March 9, 2006

Dear Mr. Don Ring:

As I have stated many times over, it is a humbling experience to know that a group of God-fearing, law-abiding men and women would reach out to the men of Folsom State Prison with the greatest opportunity with any prison inside the United States.  It has been my honor and privilege to participate in and serve the Lions Club Non-Profit Braille Transcribing group called the Folsom Project for the Visually Impaired (FPVI).

I have been a member of FPVI for more than four years.  As an inmate at Folsom State Prison, I heard of the wonderful program founded and sponsored by the Lions Clubs which provided books on tape and Braille transcription for the visually impaired and video closed captioning for the hearing impaired.  The word on the prison yard was that this was the best there was and would actually lead to employment when you paroled.  Sounded too good to be true...but I applied just in case.

My interview and testing went well.  Everyone has to interview for compatibility with the FPVI program expectations.  Each applicant also has to test, I became number one on the list after testing and interviews.  Then came the wait.. two years passed before I was assigned.  Mr. Mike Denne paroled to employment as a video Closed Captionist and with the Alternate Text Product Center (ATPC) of California, and provided the vacancy I had long waited for.

The men of FPVI are peer educators in the truest sense of the word.  Each man is willing to and participates in the education and training of every man in the project.  Through the support and encouragement of the men, supervisors and supports (primarily the Lions Club), I was able to complete the Library Braille, Nemeth (Mathematics and Scientific Notation) Braille, and Music Brialle.  The measure of these accomplishments is best stated by noting that fewer than six people in the world have all of these certifications, and most notably, I was the second main assigned to FPVI to successfully complete all of the Library of Congress Braille certifications.  Additionally, I have the Rapid-Text Industries/California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office joint-certification in Advanced Rapid Caption System Training for video Closed Captioning.  I have also received the FPVI certification on the use and maintenance of the Humphrey/Zeis Lens Analyzer which is used in the Lions Sight program for reclamation of donated eyeglasses.

I'd like to take the time here to tell of a single story, an episode that touched me in a very special way... One of our most precious gifts here is the knowledge that we are giving back, and occasionally we get to see the benefits of our efforts.  I was blessed with such an experience one summer.  Ms. Amelia Diaz, a young blind girl who the project had been working with throughout her education, was in desperate need of the Braille transcription of an advanced French language book.  She was the only student in the course and would not be able to take the advanced class without it.  I volunteered immediately.  It would be my first foreign language book, and that meant extra study time to learn a new Braille format.  Still I could not hesitate.  The FPVI Supervisor would meet me first thing in the morning and would let me stay to the last minute every day (I think he was as involved as I was in the project).  Everyone pitched in.  My work was proof-read by our Braille division manager.  The embossing, bursting and blinding was a joint effort by three men.  Everyone working to get the book out to Amelia before her class began... me, most of all.  However, my greatest joy came later when I received a simple, sweet card brailled from Amelia, thanking me... of all things... thanking me.

After 26 years in prison, I was given a date to parole in May.  Based on that date, I was hired as an Independent Contract Braille Transcriber by Clearinghouse for Specialized Media Technology for the California Department of Education and ATPC of California Community Colleges.  I was also offered a position as a Music Braille transcriber with the Kansas Braille Transcribers, Inc.  The Transcribing Mariners of Northern California have offered me membership in the non-profit Braille group.  Unfortunately, the parole commission rescinded my presumptive release date.  I will not be paroling in May.  Everyone has been sympathetic.  But remarkably, every employment offer was extended to "anytime" that I am paroled.

I believe that my Christian faith played an integral part in my qualifying for my assignment to FPVI.  However, without Lions Club support, my success in FPVI and these wonderful career opportunities would not be possible.  I will forever be grateful and will endeavor to support the Lions Clubs in whatever capacity I am able, whether inside or outside.

Sincerely yours,

Lyale R. Shellman
A Lion at Heart