Dwayne Betts is the creator of the Freedom Reads Project, an initiative to install curated micro libraries of 500 books in prisons across the country. Dwayne was last year on Econ Talk discussing Ralph Olson and Primo Levy. We'll talk about what's happening with her library project, and then we're going to talk about your latest book,. That book is redaction as they have 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.