How to Make a Bookcase Out of Wood

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"I got really obsessed with material. I was like, we'll make it out of wood," he said. "We're going to use like maple and walnut and oak and cherry." The prison won't permit IKEA bookshelves because that's usually made by veneer,. And the shelves are really, really dead and they can become weapons. But two, it will miss the depth of beauty. It actually misses the process that goes into the construction.

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.