At sixteen years old, Reginald Dwayne Betts entered prison feeling alone and without a future. Then one day, through a makeshift line strung between cells, a book slid into his hands called The Black Poets. Its words opened a world bigger than prison walls, giving him hope, imagination, and the certainty that his story wasn’t finished. Over the years, that spark grew. Betts earned degrees, became a poet and lawyer, and discovered a calling: to carry that same light into places starved for it. Today, his organization, Freedom Reads, has built 500 bright, inviting libraries inside prisons. Little havens filled with shelves of possibility and circles of conversation. Where there were once only bars and concrete, there are now spaces for wonder, growth, and connection. Betts’ journey is a testimony to the joy that comes when a life is not discarded but redeemed.
Stories of Joy 