Shaping, spraying, and studying the lenses in his hands, incarcerated father Oneil Ojeda was on the news in 2017, describing how making glasses for children on Medicaid made him feel good. The children reminded him of his 10-year-old son.
While the news justified incarcerated people making eyeglasses as helping those in need, prison labor conditions cannot be decentered.
And through an analysis of power, both low-income children who receive glasses and the incarcerated adults who make them are exploited under capitalism, ableism, and the prison system.
That united struggle must also focus on incarcerated people needing eye care themselves.
It wasn’t until 1997 that confiscating prescription eyeglasses and withholding eye care in prison was declared a violation of Eighth Amendment rights.
Today, people reported having to throw their contact lenses away while incarcerated. The choice can be between state-issued glasses or frames bought by a loved one. And for people who can’t afford eyeglasses, the consequences of being unable to see can be dangerous.
Reading books and completing vocational and educational training is difficult for those with poor vision. It is easier to get into accidents or fights. Some people go completely blind. And like Deaf people who cannot hear orders from authority figures, people who cannot follow visual directions are susceptible to punishment.
We are allowed to imagine a more liberated world where no one would be incarcerated, no one’s labor would be exploited, and everyone has access to the eye care they need.