April 2024 Newsletter

Yesterday I learned something. One of our team members, a brother who has been with us for nearly a year now, served time in prison. I never knew. I thought of him in the same way that I’ve thought of Claire in the past, or Allie now, or Gabby. I thought of Mike in the same way I’ve thought of Tyler or David or any of the dozens of people we work with, which is to say, I thought of him as one of the bedrocks of the organization. See, Mike is one of the folks that touches nearly every Freedom Library that we build, working with his hands to transform remnants of trees into hope and possibility. And yesterday, as we celebrated a significant grant given to us by the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA), he talked about the time he’d served in prison and what it meant to come home to this work.

In a way, I was happy I hadn’t known that he was a juvenile offender like me, that I was casually surprised to learn that he’d done 17 years inside. The brother is calm and soft spoken. Dedicated. He acts before he speaks. These are the things that I knew about him.

It’s like when I emailed David at 4am and then apologized, telling him that I often wake up for count. When he told me that he does too, I realized then he’d known the burden of a state number.

I think of the young woman who came up to me after my show in Chicago, delighted that I’d returned and she was home to see me perform, instead of still in prison. I think of how entering Logan Correctional Center, the women’s facility in Illinois, broke my heart. I think of this because I know that all of us desire to be seen as something other than the crimes we’ve committed and the burdens we carry.

I’ve been fortunate. I have a DOC number and a number given to me by the Connecticut Bar Association. I am an Ivy League trained lawyer and a felon. My life is juxtaposed in such a way that I can find some value in my existence even when I’m at my lowest, and I’ve been at my lowest. But maybe I’m most fortunate when I realize that I’ve cultivated, amongst all the things, the ability to not see men and women who’ve labored under words meant to define us, whether it’s 'formerly incarcerated' or 'felon.' I’ve developed the ability to see folks independent of that. I’m not sure how. Or maybe I am. Maybe it’s all wrapped up into what it means to know that freedom begins with a book.

I've had a lot of moments at Freedom Reads that have brought me to tears, but this one brought sheer joy to me. We are, in all of the ways, who we are. And as we do this work, I believe that it guarantees that we will see each other more clearly, at least that is the freedom I seek.

Reginald Dwayne Betts
Freedom Reads Founder & CEO

The Freedom Reads team kicked off the Inside Literary Prize tour in early April, visiting four prisons across Arizona and Colorado. The team facilitated book discussions and voting for Inside Literary Prize judges on the inside, and brought literary performances and readings from acclaimed authors, including Kali Fajardo-Anstine and Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Program Coordinator Gabby Colangelo reflects on leg one of the Inside Literary Prize tour on the blog.

Freedom Reads returned to Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Colorado this month to open 18 additional Freedom Libraries. With these openings, every incarcerated person and staff member at the prison has access to a Freedom Library. Freedom Reads has opened 303 Freedom Libraries in 37 adult and youth prisons across 10 states.

Yesterday, Freedom Reads hosted a launch event at our headquarters in Hamden, Connecticut to celebrate our partnership with the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA). Earlier this year, CHEFA awarded Freedom Reads a $400,000 Enterprise Capital Grant to support our work in opening Freedom Libraries in more Connecticut prisons.

The Freedom Reads team, the CHEFA team, and state officials made remarks at the event, including: Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts, CHEFA Executive Director Jeanette W. Weldon, Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, CHEFA Grant Committee Chair Lawrence Davis, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy Anthony Barrett, Freedom Reads Manufacturing Shop Manager Kevin Baker, Freedom Reads Shop Hand Michael Byrd, Former Connecticut DOC Commissioner Scott Semple, and Chief of Staff for the Connecticut DOC Ronald Cotta. 

Freedom Reads is participating in The Great Give, an annual, New Haven giving event created by the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven! Happening May 1-2, The Great Give is a chance for us to come together as a community, rallying around important causes and raising essential funds to address injustice, improve lives, and change the world for the better.

Every donation counts in The Great Give! In addition to more than $100K in matching gift incentives, Freedom Reads has the opportunity to unlock additional funds based on the number of unique donations we receive.

Freedom Reads Program Coordinator David Perez Jr reflects on his freedom date, and his work with Freedom Reads. 

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts spoke about the power of poetry and shared a new poem, “Losing Weight,” with Annika Pergament on Spectrum News NY1. Plus, earlier this month, Dwayne wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about his surprise connection to Alexei Navalny and how books sustained him in solitary confinement.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle also reported about the start of the Inside Literary Prize tour. And, Colorado Public Radio spoke with author Kali Fajardo-Anstine, who joined Freedom Reads during leg one of the Inside Literary Prize tour to give a reading and Q&A at La Vista Correctional Facility in Colorado. And, thank you to author Leila Mottley for shouting out Freedom Reads in her Shelf Life interview with Elle.

Each newsletter we aim to share at least one letter (or excerpt) from one of Freedom Reads now 25,000-plus Freedom Library patrons. Freedom Reads receives many letters from the inside. They mean so much to us. And we respond to each and every one of them.

Support us in our mission to open Freedom Libraries in every cellblock across the country.