Dwayne Betts: writer and former inmate shares his life story at BABELL

Now a poet, lawyer and advocate for prison reform in the United States

When he was just 16 years old, Reginald Dwayne Betts was imprisoned for carjacking. After only 30 minutes in solitary confinement, he decided that he would become a writer.

An American poet, essayist and lawyer, Reginald Dwayne Betts has built a remarkable body of work from his personal experience of the United States prison system. Convicted as a teenager and incarcerated for almost a decade, he found in reading and writing a path towards intellectual and personal transformation.

During the session, moderated by Raquel Marinho, Betts opened by reading one of his own poems. He spoke about how nine years in prison shaped him, the vital role literature played in his life, and the harsh realities of the American prison system. Throughout the conversation, he also recited several of his own works, moving the audience.

Asked about the name he chose for himself while in prison "Shaheed" ("witness" in Arabic), Betts explained: "It was the first time I was able to choose what my tomorrow would look like".

Betts admitted that he grew up in a community where he believed he was more likely to end up in prison than to study law. In the end, he did both, graduating from Yale University.

Since then, Dwayne Betts has founded Freedom Reads, an organisation that has established more than 600 libraries in prisons across the United States.