A young Tuscaloosa man has been charged with first-degree assault after he allegedly blinded another inmate's left eye during a disagreement in the Tuscaloosa County Jail last month.

According to court documents filed last Thursday, 20-year-old Robert Lee Johnson, Jr. was in jail on felony theft charges when he began gambling with another inmate, a 49-year-old man.

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Police say Johnson became angry and left the table where they'd been sitting then returned a moment later with a makeshift weapon.

Investigators said Johnson had stuffed a bar of soap into a sock and used it as an improvised blackjack to club the other man in the side of the face.

Police say the 49-year-old victim has "temporary and possibly permanent blindness in his left eye from the assault."

After reviewing surveillance footage of the incident, investigators charged Johnson with first-degree assault, a Class B felony, citing his alleged use of a weapon and the serious and possibly permanent injury he reportedly caused the victim.

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