A Question of Freedom, Reginald Dwayne Betts
A Question of Freedom, Reginald Dwayne Betts
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A Question of Freedom
A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison

Author: Reginald Dwayne Betts

Narrator: Sean Crisden

Unabridged: 6 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/15/2018

Synopsis

At the age of sixteen, R. Dwayne Betts—a good student from a lower-middle-class family—carjacked a man with a friend. He had never held a gun before, but within a matter of minutes he had committed six felonies. In Virginia, carjacking is a "certifiable" offense, meaning that Betts would be treated as an adult under state law. A bright young kid, he served his nine-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in the state.

A Question of Freedom chronicles Betts's years in prison, reflecting back on his crime and looking ahead to how his experiences and the books he discovered while incarcerated would define him. Utterly alone, Betts confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system. Confined by cinder-block walls and barbed wire, he discovers the power of language through books, poetry, and his own pen. Above all, A Question of Freedom is about a quest for identity—one that guarantees Betts's survival in a hostile environment and that incorporates an understanding of how his own past led to the moment of his crime.

About Reginald Dwayne Betts

Reginald Dwayne Betts has had his poetry published in many national literary journals and contributed an essay to Marita Golden's anthology It's All Love. He has been awarded the Holden Fellowship from the MFA program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. A Cave Canem fellow, his poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, Crab Orchard Review, Poet Lore, and elsewhere.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kim on June 06, 2010

Based on journals kept while in prison, this is a powerful chronicle of eight years in prison, beginning at the age of 16. In Betts's words, "This book is a confession of what it was like to be in prison. It is about hoping that there can be more moments when people who have scarred themselves, thei......more

Goodreads review by William on August 04, 2015

This is a different kind of prison memoir. Literary, lyrical and philosophical. R. Dwayne Betts was an above average student in the lower middle class close-in Washington D.C. suburb of Suitland Md. Somehow one day he thought it would be a good idea to go over to Virginia and carjack a sleeping whit......more

Goodreads review by Ted on December 31, 2015

I was intrigued about the author after hearing an interview with him on NPR. I visit inmates on a regular basis as a pastor, and found something compelling in his interview. I was not as enchanted with the book. I would say it shows moments of his being a poet, and a word smith, but I found myself t......more

Goodreads review by Stephen on August 13, 2017

A powerful memoir by a black man who, at age 16, in a terrible moment, carjacked a man and in the process, committed six felonies. Treated as an adult offender, he spends nine years in the Virginia prison system. Fortunately for him, he learns from his crimes and incarceration, and survives.......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on November 27, 2018

A Question of Freedom is a herky-jerky read. Author R Dwayne Betts often has difficulty staying on target for the duration of a paragraph, let alone a chapter, thus the book flits about from non-sequitur to non-sequitur. But the book has value as a read. Here are the main takeaways: 1. Prison sucks.......more

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