Dwayne Betts was a 16 year old high school student with good grades when he went to prison for carjacking. In the eight years of his incarceration, he would do time at a high-security prison, spend months in solitary and wonder — despairingly — if there was atonement — a good life — beyond the cell door. Indeed, he was in solitary when he called, “Somebody send me a book!” The book that appeared under his cell door — a collection of Black poets — included Etheridge Knight, who had also served time in prison — and gave him a view of that life.
Dwayne Betts would go on to study law at Yale and find success as a poet and memoirist. Now, the redemptive power of the books he read in prison is driving the creation of The Million Book Project, and this is so exciting.
Architects, prison librarians, authors, academics and the Mellon Foundation are collaborating on what Betts calls “Freedom Libraries.” These are contained shelves of books easily accessible to people inside at least one prison in every state. They're made available to staff and corrections officers, along with the incarcerated. Its mission statement: “The Million Book Project harnesses the power of literature to counter what prison does to the spirit.” So far, more than 6,000 books have been sent to prisons, so there is much more work to be done. Learn more about that work at MillionBookProject.org. — Kerri Miller | MPR News | 