25 Things the Missouri Department of Corrections Did in 2025
In the fall, poet Reginald Dwayne Betts visited Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center (WERDCC) for a poetry reading and book signing. The formerly incarcerated founder of the prison literacy organization Freedom Reads and his team also installed two mini libraries at intake facilities, WERDCC and Fulton Reception & Diagnostic Center (FRDC).
From Solitary to Yale: How Books Helped One Man Reimagine What Life Could Be
Black History Month is here, and there’s no better time to learn about Reginald Dwayne Betts. He’s a Black lawyer and a poet with several acclaimed collections to his name, as well as a memoir. His many honors include being a 2010 Soros Justice Fellow, a 2011 Radcliffe Fellow, a 2012 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow, and a 2021 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation grant. It should come as no surprise that books and reading have played key roles in his life and career. In fact, as a teen, he was in gifted programs and was an honor student in his high school.
Incarcerated at 16, This Poet Now Changes Lives Through a Prison Book Program: “Joy Is Our North Star”
Betts was 16 years old when he and a friend used a pistol to carjack a man in Fairfax, Virginia; he confessed shortly after his arrest and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Behind bars, reading became a lifeline — and not just for him.
Just Home
On Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced plans to reactivate the “Just Home” supportive housing project on the campus of Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
The project would transform the vacant hospital into affordable housing for homeless New Yorkers, formerly incarcerated people and those leaving Rikers Island with complex medical conditions.
Reginald Dwayne Betts, poet, lawyer and prison reform advocate, joined “The Rush Hour” on Thursday to talk about the mayor’s new housing plan and other stories.
Liberation through Reading & Writng: The Language of Justice with Reginald Dwayne Betts
In this episode of The PlayFull Podcast, Kristine Michie sits down with poet, lawyer, and advocate Reginald Dwayne Betts to explore how joy, words, and access to stories fuel liberation and resilience in social justice work. Through conversations about his books, MacArthur Fellowship, and Freedom Reads (the nonprofit he started that brings brand new “Freedom Edition” books and custom bookcases into prisons), Betts invites listeners to rethink how language, joy, and serious work intertwine. From personal growth through grief to designing spaces that bring books and beauty into prisons, this episode underscores how imagination and care can reshape systems and sustain movement building.
The Miraculous Transformation Wrought by Books in Prison
Tracie shares her awe and admiration for Dwayne Betts, who, as a result of being incarcerated as a teenager, discovered the power of reading in prison. He came out to become a lawyer and a published poet, founding Freedom Reads in 2020. The nonprofit has put custom made wooden libraries into over 560 prisons nationwide, transforming the lives of many prisoners. His pandemic puppy Taylor, a little Jack Russell Terrier, became Dwayne’s bridge to connect with people in his community with dogs being their common ground.
Incarcerated person's smuggled books change his life
A young man’s defiance of a book ban in solitary confinement changed his life, and after his release, he vowed to create prison libraries across the U.S.
Dwayne Betts (Freedom Reads)
Host Jason Blitman sits down with Reginald Dwayne Betts—poet, lawyer, and founder of —for an intimate conversation about transforming America's prison system one library at a time.
Freedom of the Mind
Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts discovered a new path through reading while incarcerated. Now his nonprofit Freedom Reads inspires hope by bringing books to prisons nationwide.
A smuggled book changed his life. Now he’s built 500 prison libraries.
Reginald Dwayne Betts was locked up as a teenager for carjacking. Books were his escape, and he went on to be a poet, lawyer and founder of Freedom Reads.
How books — and bookshelves — are helping incarcerated people in Connecticut
In Connecticut, formerly incarcerated people are building bookshelves and filling them with books for donation to prisons. They say reading helped them get through their own sentences.
The freedom to read
There are about 1.8 million people in the U.S. in correctional facilities, including state and federal prisons, local jails, juvenile detention centers and immigration detention facilities, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.