deafinprison

Jan Update on Felix
deafinprison By Pat Bliss It has been a while since I have posted anything, and I am certain that many of Felix’s supporters are wondering what has happened to him. I understand those thoughts so here, I will fill you in. Since Felix received his transfer from Florida to Virginia last March, he left an environment […]
Sun, Jan 29 2017

ASL Interpreters at the Doctor’s Office
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Mrs. T., a single mother who is deaf, made a medical appointment when her hearing son complained of headaches and earaches. As a native Signer, Mrs. T. requested a qualified ASL interpreter for the doctor’s office visit. She was informed that a staff audiologist interpret. But the Audiologist was busy with […]
Sat, Oct 15 2016

What July 4th Means to Me
deafinprison By BitcoDavid Next week, July 12th is a very important anniversary for me. 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. In fact, I almost died. Now, I realize that this post has nothing to do with our stated topics on DeafInPrison.com, but I had to put it up, somewhere. And this seemed […]
Tue, Jul 05 2016

Deaf Culture in the Classroom
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Is Deaf culture an important tool in the literacy classroom in Deaf education? Many who work closely with Deaf colleagues – and many reading teachers – say “Yes.” These people utilize this tool, when building their practical instructional models. Deaf culture serves as a strong support mechanism in teaching both ASL […]
Sun, Jun 05 2016

A New Life for Felix
deafinprison By Pat Bliss It took me 5 1/2 hours to drive to Jarratt, VA to see Felix at his new prison camp, Greensville Correctional Center. I spent the night on Friday May 6th, and visited on Saturday, May 7th. He was very excited because it was not only our first Virginia visit, but also Mothers […]
Wed, Jun 01 2016

Language learning and Deaf Children in Morocco
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Embed from Getty Images In his book, Literacy, Culture, and Development : Becoming Literate in Morocco, Professor Daniel Wagner (1993) describes the complex language learning contact situation of hearing boys and girls in Morocco. Deaf children are no different. They too are born into a complex language contact situation where their  […]
Sun, May 29 2016

To Felix’s Supporters
deafinprison By Pat Bliss There are more restrictions about mail coming into Greensville CC, than there were in FL. Felix told me mail is being returned to the senders. All mail and email that Felix can get goes through JPay. JPay is a private company that handles communications between inmates and their friends and families on […]
Sat, May 14 2016

To Felix’s Supporters
deafinprison By Pat Bliss There are more restrictions about mail coming into Greensville CC, than there were in FL. Felix told me mail is being returned to the senders. All mail and email that Felix can get goes through JPay. JPay is a private company that handles communications between inmates and their friends and families on […]
Thu, Apr 14 2016

Why I Sign Video
deafinprison By BitcoDavid For a long time, I have been wanting to add more ASL videos to this site. I have done a few, and have also uploaded a few from other Signers. This is part of a Hashtag Program called “#Why I Sign.” I have left it uncaptioned, because I want to see how legible […]
Thu, Apr 14 2016

When Should Deaf Babies Learn Sign Language?
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Deaf babies should learn sign language just as soon as their hearing loss is diagnosed, at birth, 3 months, 6 months or before the age of two.  Recent research in Neuroscience and Psycholinguistics has shown that when a baby’s brain is exposed to two languages between the ages of 6 and […]
Wed, Apr 13 2016

Important Update: Felix Garcia Transfered to Va.
deafinprison "I am so happy to be in Virginia. These people are real respectful and these guys are huge. I am probably the littlest guy here. I cried because I have never experienced such kindness from security. They treat me like a person."
Wed, Apr 13 2016

Why I Sign Video
deafinprison By BitcoDavid For a long time, I have been wanting to add more ASL videos to this site. I have done a few, and have also uploaded a few from other Signers. This is part of a Hashtag Program called “#Why I Sign.” I have left it uncaptioned, because I want to see how legible […]
Wed, Apr 13 2016

When Should Deaf Babies Learn Sign Language?
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Deaf babies should learn sign language just as soon as their hearing loss is diagnosed, at birth, 3 months, 6 months or before the age of two.  Recent research in Neuroscience and Psycholinguistics has shown that when a baby’s brain is exposed to two languages between the ages of 6 and […]
Fri, Apr 08 2016

Important Update: Felix Garcia Transfered to Va.
deafinprison "I am so happy to be in Virginia. These people are real respectful and these guys are huge. I am probably the littlest guy here. I cried because I have never experienced such kindness from security. They treat me like a person."
Sun, Apr 03 2016

Phone Justice for Deaf Prisoners: TTY or VP?
deafinprison "While they DO have a TTY machine here, but it doesn't work properly -- AND the only time we are able to use that machine is when someone is available to "monitor" it. What that means is my "counselor" has to take time of her work to sit beside me and read our conversation" (email to HEARD, January 10, 2013). And still another prisoner complained there was no power ou...
Sat, Mar 19 2016

A Look at Felix Garcia’s Life
deafinprison By Pat Bliss In order to recap the events of 2015  I need to first start with Felix’s parole hearing in  November of 2014. The results of the hearing were very favorable in contrast to what others received that day. No, Felix was not granted his well deserved parole, but nor was anyone else. He […]
Tue, Feb 02 2016

We’re Back Online!
deafinprison By BitcoDavid During the past week, DeafInPrison.com experienced a technical problem with our Domain name and our DNS Name Server. It resulted in a period when many of you could not locate us in search engines, and culminated in 2 full days where the site wasn’t visible to anybody. You have my sincerest apologies, and […]
Tue, Feb 02 2016

2015 in Review
deafinprison By BitcoDavid Happy New Year to all our readers, supporters, friends, Supporter Contributors and authors from BitcoDavid. 2015 was a great year for DeafInPrison.com, and I sincerely hope that 2016 will be even better. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times […]
Tue, Feb 02 2016

Merry Christmas to Felix’s Supporters
deafinprison By Pat Bliss Hello to Felix’s Supporters… Christmas day is creeping up fast and my annual trek to spend Christmas with Felix will be soon. I am going to write a post in January and will highlight the events of 2015.  I just wanted to let you all know, even though communication has been sparse […]
Tue, Feb 02 2016

Book Review by Jean Andrews
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Backspace by Steve C. Baldwin, published by Savory Words Publishing (2015) Set in southeast Texas, Dr. Steve Baldwin crafted a briskly paced murder mystery filled with family violence, addiction, bullying, blackmail, deceit and greed, murder, and incest.  In the early 1950’s, stuck in an unsympathetic hearing world filled with ignorance, misinfor...
Tue, Feb 02 2016

2015 in Review
deafinprison By BitcoDavid Happy New Year to all our readers, supporters, friends, Supporter Contributors and authors from BitcoDavid. 2015 was a great year for DeafInPrison.com, and I sincerely hope that 2016 will be even better. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times […]
Thu, Dec 31 2015

Merry Christmas to Felix’s Supporters
deafinprison By Pat Bliss Hello to Felix’s Supporters… Christmas day is creeping up fast and my annual trek to spend Christmas with Felix will be soon. I am going to write a post in January and will highlight the events of 2015.  I just wanted to let you all know, even though communication has been sparse […]
Thu, Dec 24 2015

Book Review by Jean Andrews
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Backspace by Steve C. Baldwin, published by Savory Words Publishing (2015) Set in southeast Texas, Dr. Steve Baldwin crafted a briskly paced murder mystery filled with family violence, addiction, bullying, blackmail, deceit and greed, murder, and incest.  In the early 1950’s, stuck in an unsympathetic hearing world filled with ignorance, misinfor...
Wed, Nov 25 2015

A Show of Hands—An Evening with the National Theater of...
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews On Friday, November 13, 2015, at the University of Houston’s Jose Quintero Theater on campus, the National Theater of the Deaf entertained a mixed audience of hearing and Deaf members. They presented a show called “A Show of Hands.” Behind a bright green vertically slotted curtain, you could only see the […]
Fri, Nov 20 2015

Prevalence of False Confessions in the US
deafinprison By Supporter Contributor Carli Leavitt In 2010, Stephen Brodie, who is deaf, was exonerated after serving 20 years in prison for child sex abuse. The 5-year-old victim explained that her attacker had a “strange voice” which eventually lead police to Brodie. He was interrogated for over 18 hours, oftentimes without a sign language interpreter present. […]
Thu, Nov 19 2015

ASL Immersion Learning at Northeastern
deafinprison By BitcoDavid My Sign tutor recommended I watch the following video. It offers a unique insight into Deaf culture and the problems associated with intercommunication between our two languages, English and ASL. I had hoped to embed the video, but the original publisher blocked embedding on their YouTube page. Below please find the link to […]
Sun, Nov 15 2015

An ABC Story
deafinprison By BitcoDavid There are two essential reasons why it is harder to learn ASL as a second language, than spoken languages. First, Sign is a conceptual language rather than a symbolic one. The word table, in English, doesn’t mean a thing with four legs that sits in your kitchen. That would be your dog or […]
Fri, Oct 23 2015

First Digest Post in a While
deafinprison By BitcoDavid We haven’t had a digest post in quite a while, but when enough news happens in a short period of time, it becomes necessary to cover it in a single post. First off, this past Thursday, October 1st was Felix Garcia‘s birthday.  Pat Bliss sent me the following: October 1st is Felix’s birthday. […]
Sat, Oct 03 2015
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A Quick Update
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Recently, I covered the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf, in Greece. Here’s an update on that story. In the Maryland Bulletin (Spring, 2015, p. 12), James E. Tucker, Superintent of the Maryland School for the deaf  in Frederick, Maryland wrote about the recent lack of sign language interpreters […]
Thu, Sep 17 2015
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!!!100,000 Views!!!
deafinprison By BitcoDavid I made this graphic to commemorate our 100,000 views. It’s taken us almost 4 years to do. In that time, our 7 authors and numerous supporter contributors have created 573 posts. We’ve reached 43,000 individual visitors, and our message has been seen at least once in every country on Earth. Now, we’re officially […]
Wed, Sep 02 2015

Another Move Another Home For Felix
deafinprison By Pat Bliss You sometimes wonder – will the moves, the accusations, the disruptions ever end for Felix?  Well, here we are again having to have Felix moved from his home camp of Marion Correctional to protect his life. We had to move him fast, when he was at Tomoka C.I., because he divulged to […]
Wed, Aug 19 2015

An ASL Video by Me
deafinprison By BitcoDavid BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related […]
Sun, Aug 09 2015

Deaf in Jail – Mistreatment of the Deaf.
deafinprison By Supporter Contributor Melisa Marzett Deaf people belong to one of the most vulnerable layers of society for obvious reasons. They cannot hear. Deaf people in jail are even more insecure. Some might say that if a person is in jail, this person deserves it and deserves the mistreatment, despite any physical disabilities like Deafness. […]
Mon, Jul 27 2015

Jill’s Dilemma
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews In a southern state in a Federal prison, Jill is serving a 10-year term.  While sign language interpreters are provided for her when her attorney comes to visit or during her hearings with the judge, she does not get interpreting services within the prison. For example, she does not fully understand […]
Thu, Jul 23 2015

Inmate Speaks Out on Prison-Dog Program
deafinprison By BitcoDavid An attorney who has written for us in the past, informed me that he recently acquired a canine graduate of the prison-dog program in his home state. He tells me that he couldn’t be happier with the dog, who’s well  behaved and well mannered. Further, he relayed to me that not only was […]
Tue, Jul 21 2015

ICED and Interpreters
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Surrounded by the Acropolis and other stunning Greek monuments, the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf held their 22nd annual conference, titled Educating Diverse Learners; Many Ways, One Goal, on July 6 to July 9, 2015. It was the stage for more than 700 researchers. It was a revitalizing […]
Sat, Jul 18 2015

This Post Could Save Your Life
deafinprison By BitcoDavid I was reading an article the other day, about a woman who had a seizure while her helper-dog was distracted by a stranger petting him. It occurred to me, reading this, that there were lessons we learned, growing up, that don’t appear to be taught anymore. Everybody my age or older knows not […]
Tue, Jul 07 2015

Jack’s annual Independence Day Plea
deafinprison By Supporter Contributor Jack A common drug user. That’s right. That’s what I’ve become, and it’s all your fault. See, I get afraid of some things. Especially fireworks. I hear them, but I don’t know what they are. I get all kinds of scared. I shake – I shiver – I try and hide under […]
Fri, Jul 03 2015

Amy Elkins Parting Words Exhibit
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews A Photography Exhibition by Amy Elkins at the Houston Center for Photography, May 8th to July 5, 2015 Amy Elkins, photographer examines capital punishment and solitary confinement through her powerful, haunting and evocative exhibition. For many years, Ms. Elkins had a personal relationship with many inmates on death row through letter […]
Sat, Jun 13 2015

More on Si5S
deafinprison By BitcoDavid A few months ago, we did a piece on Si5S, a written form of ASL. Si5S deserves your attention because it nullifies the argument that ASL isn’t a language due to the fact that it has no written form. But its relevance goes beyond that. For one thing, it can help non-Signers learn […]
Sun, Jun 07 2015

Fox 13 Tampa Bay: Updated Felix Video
deafinprison By BitcoDavid The following links are to the newest extended special broadcast on Felix’s case, by Florida Fox News outlet WTVT Fox News Channel 13, Tampa Bay. Here’s the link to the video from their page. [link] Here’s the video with a transcript by TVEYES media monitor. [link] And here’s the Vimeo version. https://vimeo.com/128326681 BitcoDavid […]
Thu, May 28 2015

How Fox News Became Involved with Felix
deafinprison By Pat Bliss The day before Felix’s parole hearing in November 2014, a photojournalist representing FOX News interviewed attorney Reggie Garcia and me, in his office. The next morning at the parole hearing he filmed us both, advocating for Felix’s parole. It was an exciting and dramatic time. There were cameras and microphones everywhere.  After […]
Fri, May 22 2015

A Word on Police Militarization
deafinprison By BitcoDavid On May 18th, President Obama signed an Executive Order, effectively banning the transfer of military equipment by the Federal government, to community police departments. This is a step in the right direction, and will help to end what has become nothing short of a war between the police, and the communities they are […]
Thu, May 21 2015

Felix Case – Some Important Links
deafinprison By BitcoDavid Here’s the link to Fox 13 Tampa Bay’s video. It’s a surprisingly accurate and well made piece, and tells Felix’s whole story. Well worth watching. [link] You can see their FaceBook page here. Check out the comments on Felix’s video. --- And lastly, here’s a link to Felix’s original testimony, in PDF format. […]
Fri, May 15 2015

Change! Fox News Program about Felix
deafinprison By Pat Bliss To All Felix’s Supporters: I had previously stated that FOX News is doing a short segment on Felix’s case at 10 pm May 14th. It has been upped to May 11th at 10pm. This will be aired again and be tied in with a special on the criminal justice system coming up […]
Sat, May 09 2015

Castaways: A Documentary
deafinprison By BitcoDavid I got this video from Littlethings.com via Facebook. I had to go through some machinations in order to convert it to a format you could see embedded on DeafInPrison.com.  I’ve linked to the original. We’re not about stealing anything here, and generally we only publish our own original content, but this is a […]
Fri, May 08 2015

A Victimless Crime?
deafinprison By Supporter Contributor Matthew Gilbert A few days ago, I saw a post by someone who was grieving for a loved one lost to drug overdose. They made the point that there are victims to drug use. I was not about to argue with a grieving person and I am not now going to. How […]
Thu, May 07 2015

I Love It Here!
deafinprison By Pat Bliss In my last post Felix had problems in understanding his classes without an interpreter. It did not get any better so we had to have him moved to a facility that does provide an interpreter. Felix’s new home is Marion CI and here is his new address: Felix Garcia #482246/B-1123-L Marion Corr. […]
Fri, Apr 24 2015

Appropriate Treatment For Deaf Sex Offenders
deafinprison By Jean F. Andrews Sexual predation is considered to be a heinous crime rather than a disease. In a paper written by Dr. McCay Vernon – the late psychologist who specialized in mental health issues and deaf persons –  pedophilia is a “a curse,” because crimes by sexual molesters arouse so much public anger, and […]
Thu, Mar 26 2015

I am a Happy Person
deafinprison By Pat Bliss This is what Felix Garcia said to me on a visit recently… “I wake up every morning, and say I am a happy person, because so much evil around. By telling yourself you are happy, the evil around has no effect. You will see God’s blessings that way.” What a wonderful lesson […]
Thu, Mar 19 2015