Reginald Dwayne Betts

Reginald Dwayne Betts is an American poet, legal

scholar, educator and prison reform advocate. At age Reginald Dwayne Betts
16 he committed an armed carjacking, was prosecuted
as an adult, and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
He started reading and writing poetry during his
incarceration. After his release, Betts earned an M.F.A.
in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College, and a
Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.[1] He
served on President Barack Obama’s Coordinating
Council of the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention.[2] He founded Freedom
Reads, an organization that gives incarcerated people
access to books.[3] In September 2021, Betts was
awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.[4] He is currently
working on a PhD in law at Yale University.

Early life and imprisonment Betts in 2019

Born Maryland, U.S.
Born in Maryland, Betts was in gifted programs
Occupation Poet · teacher · lawyer
throughout his youth, and in high school was an honors
student and class treasurer at Suitland High School in Education Prince George's Community
the Washington, D.C. suburb of District Heights, College
University of Maryland,
Maryland.[5]
College Park (BA)
At the age of sixteen, he and a friend carjacked a man Warren Wilson College (MA)
Yale University (JD)
who had fallen asleep in his car at the Springfield
Mall.[6] Betts was charged as an adult and Notable Guggenheim Fellowship
awards (2018)
consequently spent more than eight years in prison
MacArthur Fellowship (2021)
(including fourteen months in solitary confinement),[7]
where he completed high school and began reading Spouse Terese Robertson Betts
and writing poetry. Children 2
Website
Speaking at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in 2016, he said:
www.dwaynebetts.com (https://www.dwaynebe
"I was in solitary confinement.... You could call out for
tts.com/)
a book and someone would slide one to you.
Frequently, you would not know who gave it to you.
Somebody slid The Black Poets edited by Dudley Randall. In that book I read Robert Hayden for the first
time, Sonia Sanchez, Lucille Clifton. I saw the poet as not just utilitarian but as serving art. In a poem you
can give somebody a whole world. Before that, I had thought of being a writer, writing mostly essays and
maybe, one day, a novel. But at that moment I decided to become a poet."[8]
In prison, he was renamed Shahid, meaning "witness".[8]

Education, writing, and activism after prison

After serving an eight-year prison term,[9] Betts found a job working at Karibu Books in Bowie,
Maryland. At the store, he was eventually promoted to manager and founded a book club for African
American boys, while attending Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland.[5] He later
became a teacher of poetry in Washington, DC,[10] and in 2013, he taught in the writing program (WLP)
at Emerson College.[11]

Betts is the national spokesman for the Campaign for Youth Justice, and speaks out for juvenile-justice
reform. He also visits detention centers and inner-city schools, and talks to at-risk young people.[12]

In 2012, President Barack Obama announced that Betts had been named a member of the Coordinating
Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.[13]

In 2016, Betts graduated from Yale Law School and passed the Connecticut bar exam. In September
2017, the bar's Examining Committee recommended him for admission, after the bar had rejected his
initial application for membership.[14][15] He is currently working on his Ph.D. in law at Yale.[16]

Awards and fellowships

In 2009, Shahid Reads His Own Palm won the Beatrice Hawley Award for poetry.[17]

In 2010, Betts was awarded a fellowship from the Open Society Foundation.[18]

His memoir, A Question of Freedom, won an NAACP Award for non-fiction.[16]

In 2017, Only Once I Thought About Suicide received the Israel H. Peres Prize for best student comment
appearing in the Yale Law Journal.[16][7]

In 2018 he was chosen to be a writing fellow for PEN America's Writing for Justice Fellowship.[19]

In 2018 he was also awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.[20]

Betts was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.[21]

Publications
His poems have been published in literary journals and magazines including Ploughshares,[10][22] Crab
Orchard Review, and Poet Lore.[23]

Bibliography
External media
Poetry Audio
Audio Interview: Ex-Convict Writes About 'A
Collections Question of Freedom" (https://www.npr.org/tem
plates/story/story.php?storyId=112134942)
Betts, Reginald Dwayne (2010). Near Burn
and Burden: a collection of poems. Warren Scott Simon, NPR
Wilson College. "Audio Interview: "Coming of Age in Prison-
— (2010). Shahid Reads His Own Palm. Reginald Dwayne Betts" (http://wamu.org/progr
Alice James Books. ISBN 9781882295814. ams/kn/09/08/13.php), WAMU The Kojo
— (2015). Bastards of the Reagan Era. Nnmadi Show
Stahlecker Selections.
In 'Bastards Of The Reagan Era' A Poet
ISBN 9781935536659.[24]
Says His Generation Was 'Just Lost' (https://w
— (2019). Felon: Poems. W.W. Norton.
ww.npr.org/2015/12/08/458901392/in-bastards
ISBN 9780393652147.
-of-the-reagan-era-a-poet-says-his-generation-
was-just-lost), Fresh Air, December 8, 2015
The Sunday Read: Getting Out (https://ww
w.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/podcasts/the-daily/t
he-sunday-read-getting-out.html), New York
Times, Sunday, June 14th, 2020
Video
Furious Flower presents R. Dwayne Betts
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h0exEEA
5Bk), James Madison University, September
17, 2015
"R. Dwayne Betts: A Mind Unconfined by
Jail" (https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/new
s/2009-08-12-betts-freedom_N.htm), Craig
Wilson, USA Today
Video- Reading & Interview- Reginald
Dwayne Betts (http://usat.gannett.a.mms.mave
napps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-usatoday-206-
pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerI
d=immersiveproduction&maven_referralPlaylis
tId=2099847ae09d7376bc77375c17a6e7bead
6b6816&maven_referralObject=1211022346&
maven_referrer=staf), USA Today
 --- (2023) Redaction with art by Titus Kapur W.W. Norton ISBN 9781324006824

List of selected poems

Title Year First published Reprinted/collected

Betts, Reginald Dwayne (2011).

Henderson, Bill, ed. (2013).
"What we know of horses" (htt
The Pushcart Prize XXXVII:
What we know of p://www.riverstyx.org/content/pd
2011 Best of the small presses
horses f/RS85_Betts.pdf) (PDF). River
2013. Pushcart Press.
Styx. 85: 37–38. Retrieved
pp. 471–473.
2015-04-20.
Betts, Reginald Dwayne (Spring
2006). "A Conversation" (http://w
ww.washingtonart.com/beltway/
A conversation 2006
betts.html). Beltway Poetry
Quarterly. 7 (2). Retrieved
2015-04-20.

Betts, Reginald Dwayne (2008).

"let me tell you bout the night i
let me tell you bout the died" (http://www.thedrunkenboa
2008
night i died t.com/dwaynebetts.html). The
Drunken Boat. 8 (III–IV).
Retrieved 2015-04-20.

Betts, Reginald Dwayne (2008).

"Misunderstood" (http://www.the
Misunderstood 2008 drunkenboat.com/dwaynebetts.h
tml). The Drunken Boat. 8 (III–
IV). Retrieved 2015-04-20.
Betts, Reginald Dwayne (2008).
"Soldier's song" (http://www.thed
Soldier's song 2008 runkenboat.com/dwaynebetts.ht
ml). The Drunken Boat. 8 (III–
IV). Retrieved 2015-04-20.

Non-fiction
A Question of Freedom: A memoir of learning, survival, and coming of age in prison (https://
books.google.com/books?id=noZS3qRgbVEC&q=Reginald+Dwayne+Betts). Penguin. 2010.
ISBN 9781101133361.
Betts, Reginald Dwayne (2016). "Only Once I Thought About Suicide" (http://www.yalelawjo
urnal.org/forum/only-once-i-thought-about-suicide). Yale Law Journal Forum. 125: 222.
Retrieved October 1, 2017.

References
1. "Dwayne Betts - Yale Law School" (https://law.yale.edu/studying-law-yale/degree-programs/
graduate-programs/phd-program/phd-candidate-profiles/dwayne-betts). law.yale.edu.
Retrieved 2021-09-30.
2. "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts" (https://obamawhitehouse.ar
chives.gov/the-press-office/2012/04/26/president-obama-announces-more-key-administratio
n-posts). whitehouse.gov. 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
3. "Freedom Reads" (https://freedomreads.org/). Freedom Reads. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
 4. "Reginald Dwayne Betts" (https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2021/reginald-dwayne-
betts). www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
5. Parker, Lonnae O'Neal (2 October 2006). "From Inmate to Mentor, Through Power of
Books" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100101
160.html). Washington Post. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
6. Blake, Meredith (November 30, 2010). "The Exchange: R. Dwayne Betts on prison, poetry,
and justice" (http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-exchange-r-dwayne-betts-on-
prison-poetry-and-justice). The New Yorker. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
7. Betts, Reginald Dwayne (2016-01-15). "Only Once I Thought About Suicide" (http://www.yal
elawjournal.org/forum/only-once-i-thought-about-suicide). Yale Law Journal. Retrieved
2017-08-05.
8. Andre Bagoo, "From prison to poetry" (http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,228514.html),
Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, May 30, 2016.
9. Gonzalez, Elisa (2016-06-30). "A Decade After Prison, a Poet Studies for the Bar Exam" (htt
p://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-decade-after-prison-a-poet-studies-for-the-bar-
exam). The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
10. Berg, Laura Van Den (2008-12-11). "New Voices: Reginald Dwayne Betts" (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20090220070318/http://pshares.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-voices-reginald-dwa
yne-betts.html). Ploughshares Blog. Archived from the original (http://pshares.blogspot.com/
2008/12/new-voices-reginald-dwayne-betts.html) on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
11. "Betts wins Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship" (https://today.emerson.edu/2013/03/13/betts-wins-r
uth-lilly-poetry-fellowship/). Emerson College Today. 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
12. Craig Wilson, "R. Dwayne Betts: A Mind Unconfined by Jail" (https://www.usatoday.com/life/
books/news/2009-08-12-betts-freedom_N.htm), USA Today, August 12, 2009.
13. White House (26 April 2012). "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts"
(https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/04/26/president-obama-annou
nces-more-key-administration-posts). whitehouse.gov. Retrieved March 15, 2014 – via
National Archives.
14. Robinson, Nathan J. (2017-08-04). "Nothing Will Ever Be Enough" (https://www.currentaffair
s.org/news/2017/08/nothing-will-ever-be-enough). Current Affairs. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
15. Collins, Dave (September 29, 2017). "Felon who graduated from Yale allowed to become
lawyer" (https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/09/29/felon-who-graduated-from-yal
e-allowed-to-become-lawyer). Boston.com. Associated Press. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
16. "Dwayne Betts - Yale Law School" (https://law.yale.edu/studying-law-yale/degree-programs/
graduate-programs/phd-program/phd-candidate-profiles/dwayne-betts). law.yale.edu.
Retrieved 2017-08-05.
17. "Beatrice Hawley Award" (http://www.hawleysociety.org/beatrice-hawley-award/). The
Society of the Hawley Family. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
18. "The Exchange: R. Dwayne Betts on Prison, Poetry, and Justice" (http://www.newyorker.co
m/books/page-turner/the-exchange-r-dwayne-betts-on-prison-poetry-and-justice). The New
Yorker. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
19. "Writing for Justice Fellowship 2018-2019" (https://pen.org/writing-justice-2018-2019/). PEN
America. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
20. "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Reginald Dwayne Betts" (https://www.gf.org/fellows/
all-fellows/reginald-dwayne-betts/). Retrieved 2021-10-08.
21. "MacArthur Foundation Announces 2021 'Genius' Grant Winners" (https://www.nytimes.com/
2021/09/28/arts/macarthur-foundation-announces-2021-genius-grant-winners.html). The
New York Times. September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
22. Reginald Dwayne Betts (https://www.pshares.org/authors/reginald-dwayne-betts) at
Ploughshares.
23. Author Page > Reginald Dwayne Betts (http://alicejamesbooks.org/authors/betts-reginald-d
wayne/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170805110245/http://alicejamesbooks.org/
authors/betts-reginald-dwayne/) 2017-08-05 at the Wayback Machine, Alice James Books.
24. Michiko Kakutani (October 12, 2015). "Review: 'Bastards of the Reagan Era,' a Book of
Poetry" (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/books/review-bastards-of-the-reagan-era-a-b
ook-of-poetry.html?_r=0). The New York Times. "Mr. Betts captures the stark brutality of
prison life with chilling, matter-of-fact descriptions, and he evokes the hopelessness that
accompanies many prisoners' belief that all narratives end "with cuffs around all wrists,
again." "

External links
Media related to Reginald Dwayne Betts at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to Reginald Betts at Wikiquote

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