How Did You End Up in Prison at 16?

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Before his 18th birthday, he'd scuffle in prison cells and be counseled to stab a man I declined. Slid Dudley Randall's the black poets under my cell door in the hole. And still of those years, the memory that endures is the moment a prisoner whose name I've never known.

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.