Reginald Dwayne Betts
Advisor, Literacy Programs
Reginald Dwayne Betts is a MacArthur Fellow, award‑winning poet, lawyer, and nationally recognized advocate for prison literacy whose work explores incarceration, transformation, and the power of reading. A gifted writer and legal scholar, Betts began writing poetry during his own incarceration as a teenager—an experience that shaped his lifelong commitment to expanding access to literature in prisons.
After his release, Betts pursued higher education with extraordinary determination, earning an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. He later served on President Barack Obama’s Coordinating Council for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, contributing to national conversations on youth justice and rehabilitation.
Betts is the Founder and Director of Freedom Reads, a groundbreaking initiative that builds 500‑book Freedom Libraries inside prisons across the United States. Through this work, he has transformed access to literature for incarcerated people, emphasizing reading as a pathway to dignity, imagination, and self‑determination. His poetry and essays—including his acclaimed collection Felon—examine the emotional and social consequences of incarceration and reentry.
A prolific author, Betts has published a memoir and multiple poetry collections, and his writing has earned major national honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and a MacArthur Fellowship. His work continues to influence legal scholars, artists, policymakers, and justice‑impacted communities across the country.
As Advisor for Literacy Programs at Ben Free, Betts brings his deep expertise in literature, justice reform, and trauma‑informed education to help shape reading‑based curricula that empower system‑impacted individuals. His leadership strengthens Ben Free’s mission by ensuring that literacy programming is rooted in humanity, intellectual freedom, and the belief that “freedom begins with a book.”