Before You Read It, I Just Taked Him Before He Read It

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"I called the poem on my 34, 41st birthday that you know I'm closing my night out. And it was the image of Michael K Williams, he played, he played Omar in the wire," she said. "What does it mean to be actually alive in the world and to be to walk in somebody's shoes?" L.A. Paul: "It's this is maybe one of the quintessential transformers, you know, I don't care what you tell me but go back and read it"

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.