Florida inmates were denied eye surgery for years. Some were left blind

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Randall Barde’s eyesight wasn’t right. The light in his cell had a blue ring around it. His vision was blurry.

After a two-year delay, a 2019 eye exam revealed advanced cataracts in both eyes. He needs surgery “soon,” the specialist wrote in his report to prison officials.

Surgery still hadn’t happened two years later when his brother Tim Barde visited. He was shocked to see his younger brother feeling his way with a cane. A badge with “vision impaired” was pinned to his shirt.

“I was stunned,” Tim Barde said. “I had to go up and bring him back to the table.”

Barde, 70, was denied medical care for six years despite five specialists recommending surgery, state records show. Instead, he was given glasses that optometrists told prison official