Getting a Reader in Public

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"I think it gives permission for the men there to see each other as more than just. You know, criminal convict spades player athlete," she says. "And so I bring it one in for them to, you know, it's radical, you get to see just a moment."

Dwayne Betts was a 16-year-old in solitary confinement when a fellow inmate slid a book of poetry under his cell door. What happened next is an astounding story of transformation: from desperation to the discovery of beauty, even behind bars. Listen as the lawyer, prison reform advocate, and award-winning poet explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts why he's on a mission to bring books--and beauty--into prisons. They also discuss Betts's latest book, Redaction, a collaboration with the artist Titus Kaphar.