Anthony Blue

Anthony Blue with his sister, Inez Blue, obtained from The Baltimore Sun.

As a tribute to Anthony, please click play to listen to the above song as you read this memorial.

Roxbury Correctional Institution reported its first positive case on April 23: Anthony Blue. His sister, Inez Blue, received a call on April 17 from another person incarcerated there, telling her that Anthony had been taken to the infirmary. She later learned that he was taken to the hospital and had tested positive for COVID-19. 

This was the only period of time Anthony spent outside of prison in forty-three years. While he was in the hospital, Inez got to speak to him on the phone. In a story in The Baltimore Sun, Inez described him as sounding “Defeated and broken. He said he wanted to die. He was in so much pain.” Nevertheless, she told him, “Just fight. You can’t give up.” 

Anthony blinded himself in prison in 1990, after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Anthony was unable to use the law library, write letters home, or feel safe and secure. Anthony expressed his desire to learn Braille but was unable to obtain a tutor for more than twenty years. Charles Baxter began working as Anthony’s caretaker in 2017. He cleaned his cell, helped him get around prison, eat, and learn Braille. Anthony told Charles about his dreams of opening a soul food restaurant and looking forward to taking a nice hot bath, once he was home. 

Anthony had a hearing scheduled for April 2, but it was postponed due to COVID-19. Inez ordered a quilt and matching curtains for Anthony’s bedroom, hoping that he would be returning home soon. Charles, Anthony’s friend who was also incarcerated, said that Anthony “Loved for me to talk about him going home.” He especially enjoyed when Baxter sang the lyrics to “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke:

There been times that I thought I wouldn’t last for long

Now I think I’m able to carry on

It’s been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change’s gonna come, oh, yes, it will

On May 6, the hospital allowed Anthony to video conference with his sisters, Inez and Sandra. Inez remembers Anthony asking her to come get him and bring him home. They prayed together. Sandra says, “When I saw him, I felt joy…I wanted to see the father take him back to where he brought him from. No more pain, no more suffering, no more nothing.” At 12:28pm that day, Anthony passed away at the age of 63. 

Inez received the quilt and curtains a few days later. Instead of setting up Anthony’s room for his arrival, she moved the box to the basement. 

Anthony Blue’s sister, Inez Blue, looking at her brother at his viewing, photographed by Lloyd Fox of The Baltimore Sun.

The Blue family held a funeral for Anthony on June 8. One of his nephews, Stinyard, never got to meet his uncle but had hoped to introduce him to his child, who will be born in August. He said he “always admired his uncle’s strength in the face of injustice.” 

After the funeral, Inez placed Anthony’s urn in her home. “I promised I was going to bring him home. At least I didn’t tell him a lie.”  

This memorial was written by MOL team member Caroline Harlow with information from reporting by Justin Fenton of The Baltimore Sun and WBAL TV 11.