A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison

Betts, R. D. (2009). A question of freedom: A memoir of survival, learning, and coming of age in prison. Avery.Reginald Dwayne Betts is poet, lawyer, and founder and director of Freedom Reads, a first-of-its-kind organization that empowers people through literature to confront what prison does to the spirit.This book tells the story of Betts’s years in prison when at the age of 16 he committed a crime (six felonies) that landed him in jail. According to Betts, "This story tells how a son can scar everyone he's ever loved in the time it takes to walk to the convenience store and back" (p. 231). He vividly described prison life and its affect on him, including "what it meant to lock your thoughts inside of yourself and survive in a place governed by violence, a place where violence was a cloud of smoke you learned to breathe in or choked on." Reading and writing became ways he endured, "Writing was my major rehabilitative tool. My poems let me see the world in a way I hadn't before. Not simply a world of cause and effect, but of all the nuance that goes into surviving a life sentence. "

I liked the story but I think it was for a younger reader

It revealed in a small way the sorry state of our judicial system, and the conditions in the jails and state prisons. Certainly a sad commentary, although there were amusing stories and moments in the book.

Dwayne Betts did not fit the stereotype of an underachieving, trouble-bound black youth on Pearl Harbor Day, 1996. He was well read and college bound when he and a buddy committed the crimes for which he was ultimately sentenced to serve eight years in the Virginia prison system. Sixteen years old, a relatively recent amendment to the Virginia penal code allowed the Commonwealth to "certify" him as an adult. A Question of Freedom describes his prison experiences. More often than not during the first five years of his sentence, he was the youngest prisoner in his unit, although not necessarily the most vulnerable. Smart, resourceful, if, sometimes, too defiant for his own good, he made good use of his time, much of it spent in solitary confinement. He kept in shape (200 push-ups a day), read voraciously, wrote poetry, learned Spanish, completed a paralegal training course, and, took advantage of the diversity of the prison population to expand his horizons. His book provides a full account of the how, what, where and when of his experience. It is less definitive when it comes to his explanation of why he stepped out of character for the ten minutes that forever changed his life. It is to his great credit that he refused to blame his failings on his absent father or, more generally, on the failure of the community to help him steer clear of the crime. He seems to say that he did what he did because he thought he could do it and not mess up. Today, Dwayne Betts has become a role model for young black boys and a much sought after speaker and talk show guest. He is working for the repeal of the laws that allowed him to be certified as an adult. The question is before the U.S. Supreme Court and should be decided this spring. He is married, he and his wife Teresa have a two-year old son. His first book of poetry Shahid [his prison name] Reads His Own Palm is to be published in May. Just so you know, my wife and I had the good luck to make Dwayne and Teresa's acquaintance recently during an airport stopover in Baltimore.

I read this book a few years ago. I read other reviews and agree with most of what is there. Wondering why anyone ends up in prison is natural for those of us who aren't there. Wondering what prison life is really like is yet another step, and further, what life would be like for those of us who never spent time there.I do some volunteer work in a state medium security prison and have off and on for 20 years. My work does not deal with the why, but rather with helping inmates develop skills that will serve them well both inside and eventually outside. One of these programs, the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) has repeatedly been called the best program in the institution by successive wardens and others. It is international and 100% volunteer. I often ask myself if I would like to be known mostly for the worst thing I have ever done in my life.It's interesting that in the U.S. we imprison a greater percentage of our population than any other country, and I have read that we even have a greater absolute number of prisoners that any other, including China. The costs are enormous, and the benefits do not measure up those costs by a long shot. This imbalance is exacerbated by the privatizing of prisons. It is an old add adage that there are far more criminals outside of prisons than inside. We all recognize how poverty and inadequate defense contribute to the prison population in an imbalanced way. Staying out of prison requires money, and white collar crime has the most money at its disposal.This story of a unique ability of one person to overcome the worst is rare, indeed.

Très intéressant et en bon état. Ce livre a été acheté sur un site anglais. D'où ma surprise de devoirle commenter sur un site français...