This month, with support from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA) and Connecticut Senators Blumenthal and Murphy, national non-profit Freedom Reads is opening 42 Freedom Libraries across three Connecticut prisons
In September, the national non-profit Freedom Reads, with generous support from CHEFA and Connecticut Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, is opening 42 Freedom Libraries across MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, Cybulski Community Reintegration Center, and Cheshire Correctional Institution in Connecticut. The Freedom Libraries will be opened directly in cellblocks across the prisons, allowing incarcerated individuals direct access to inspiring literature. With these openings, Freedom Reads will have opened 392 Freedom Libraries across 43 adult and youth prisons in 12 states.
Earlier this year, Freedom Reads was awarded a generous Enterprise Capital Grant from CHEFA and, thanks to support from Senators Murphy and Blumenthal, a significant allocation through the Office of Justice Programs to support our work in Connecticut.
“This month, we return to Freedom Reads' home state of Connecticut to open 42 Freedom Libraries across three prisons — prisons where several of our Freedom Reads team members served time,” said Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts. “All of our Freedom Library openings are special, but the openings this month strike me as especially meaningful for our team members who are bringing inspiring literature to cellblocks they once called home. And, I'd be remiss not to mention the transformational support that is making these 42 library openings possible. The visionary Enterprise Capital Grant from CHEFA and the federal allocation supported by Senators Murphy and Blumenthal is an important reminder for our team and our Library Patrons of the broad and committed support for Freedom Reads’ mission. The generous support from CHEFA and the Senators also acts as a model for other states as we pursue our mission to open a Freedom Library in every cellblock in every prison in America. And, of course, we are grateful to the Connecticut Department of Correction for their partnership and assistance in making this month’s library openings and events happen.”
“CHEFA is proud to support the transformational work of Freedom Reads through our enterprise capital grant,” said CHEFA Executive Director Jeanette W. Weldon. “We believe the installation of these 42 Freedom Libraries across Connecticut’s correctional institutions will inspire change and provide hope. These important projects demonstrate CHEFA’s commitment to improving lives and fostering opportunities to access education.”
“These Freedom Libraries will make a real difference in the lives of incarcerated people – providing access to literature and reading materials to help them to learn and grow,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal. “I am proud to have advocated for $450,000 in federal funding to support these libraries and will continue to fight for resources to reduce recidivism.”
“Reading is the foundation of all learning and knowledge,” said Department of Correction Commissioner Angel Quiros. “I thank Mr. Betts and all those associated with Freedom Reads for their numerous donations of libraries to the Department’s facilities. By increasing access to books, the individuals under our supervision have more opportunities to gain knowledge, expand their horizons, and improve upon their emotional well-being.”
Today, the Freedom Reads team opened seven Freedom Libraries, including one for staff, at Cybulski CRC. In addition to a library opening ceremony with remarks from Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts, CHEFA Executive Director Jeanette W. Weldon, and a representative of Connecticut Department of Correction Commissioner Angel Quiros, Betts also performed his solo show, FELON: An American Washi Tale, for an audience inside the prison.
Earlier in the month, on September 19 and 23, the Freedom Reads team opened 21 Freedom Libraries, including two for staff, across MacDougall-Walker CI. This Friday, September 27, the Freedom Reads team will open the remaining 14 Freedom Libraries at Cheshire CI.
Freedom Reads is a first-of-its-kind organization that empowers people in prison through literature to imagine new possibilities for their lives. The Freedom Libraries are the brainchild of 2021 MacArthur Fellow and Yale Law School graduate Reginald Dwayne Betts, who was sentenced in Virginia to nine years in prison at age 16. Freedom Libraries are spaces in prisons to encourage community and in which reaching for a book can be as spontaneous as human curiosity. Each bookcase is handcrafted out of maple, cherry, oak, or walnut and is curved to contrast the straight lines and bars of prisons as well as to evoke Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s observation about the “arc of the moral universe” bending “toward justice.”
Books in the Freedom Library have been carefully curated through consultations with hundreds of poets, novelists, philosophers, teachers, friends, and voracious readers, resulting in a collection of books that are not only beloved, but indispensable. The libraries include contemporary poetry, novels, and essays alongside classic works such as Homer’s The Odyssey and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man – titles that remind us that books have long been a freedom project.