Reginald Dwayne Betts spent more than eight years in prison. Today he's a Yale Law graduate, a MacArthur Fellow, and a poet. His nonprofit works to build libraries in prisons so that more incarcerated people can find hope.

SOURCES:
- Reginald Dwayne Betts, founder and director of Freedom Reads, award-winning poet, and lawyer.

RESOURCES:
- Doggerel: Poems, by Reginald Dwayne Betts (2025).
- “The Poet Writing on Prison Underwear,” by Adam Iscoe (The New Yorker, 2023).
- The Voltage Effect, by John List (2022).
- “If We Truly Believe in Redemption and Second Chances, Parole Should Be Celebrated,” by Reginald Dwayne Betts (The Washington Post, 2021).
- Insurrections, by Rion Scott (2016).
- The Secret History of Wonder Woman, by Jill Lepore (2014).
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig (1974).
- The Black Poets, by Dudley Randall (1971).
- “For Freckle-Faced Gerald,” by Etheridge Knight (Poems from Prison, 1968).
- Felon: An America Washi Tale, by Reginald Dwayne Betts.
- Freedom Reads.

EXTRAS:

Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars (Update)

People I (Mostly) Admire