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

R. Dwayne Betts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2009

A powerful debut memoir from a published poet and emerging writer.

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 Dwayne would be treated as an adult under state law. A bright young kid, weighing only 126 pounds- not enough to fill out a medium T-shirt -he served his eight-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in the state.

A Question of Freedom is a coming-of-age story, with the unique twist that it takes place in prison. Utterly alone-and with the growing realization that he really is not going home any time soon-Dwayne confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system. Above all, A Question of Freedom is about a quest for identity-one that guarantees Dwayne's survival in a hostile environment and that incorporates an understanding of how his own past led to the moment of his crime.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dwayne Betts was incarcerated for 9 years in an unforgiving place?a place in which he also discovered the incredible power of books and reading. He's written his own life-changing book, which may well prevent other young men from making that detour to prison. A searing and ultimately uplifting story." Hill Harper, Best selling author of Letters to a Young Brother and Letters to a Young Sister.

"I'm so happy to have been introduced to the miracle that is R. Dwayne Betts' A Question of Freedom. It tells so many important stories: of senseless violence that plagues our streets, the devastating affect our prison system is having on so many young African-American males and the struggles we must all experience before we can find redemption. But perhaps most importantly, it's a story about the power of consciousness. A reminder that no matter how confining our surroundings might seem or how bleak our future might look, as long as we are in touch with our higher selves, we can always tap into both the compassion and the toughness that is in all of our hearts. Betts is a major new voice in hip-hop and I look forward to being inspired by him for years to come." Russell Simmons "A Question of Freedom is a must-read and should be required reading for all those young sons and grandsons and brothers and nephews and uncles who believe this can't happen to them; it can, even if they can't wrap their brains around such a concept." - Baltimore Times

About the Author

R . DWAYNE BETTS

is graduate student at Warren Wilson College, where he has been awarded the Holden Fellowship. Shortly after his release from prison, The Washington Post published a feature article about him and a book club he founded for at-risk young men called YoungMenRead. He teaches poetry at several public schools in the D.C. metro area, has had his poetry published in many national literary journals, and contributed an essay to the anthology It's All Love.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Avery; First Edition edition (August 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583333487
• ISBN-13: 978-1583333488
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, August 10, 2009

By 

Liz Powers "Liz" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison (Hardcover)

"A Question of Freedom" is a must read! This is an amazing testament to R. Dwayne Betts' resiliency and determination and exposes the failure of laws that passed in the 1990's to prosecute and lock up more kids in the adult criminal justice system. Dwayne is a gifted writer and his writing gives us incredible insights into how the criminal justice system really works. The author will be speaking on a book tour and dates/times can be found on his website at: [...] Congratulations to R. Dwayne Betts for his amazing work!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We are the sum of our experience!, September 17, 2009

By 

Robert J. Gagnon "author of 053803" (FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison (Hardcover)

Here's the story about an intelligent kid (not a thug) that grew up in a predominately Black area. The one older person he admires tells him how he got revenge on the police that abused him by carjacking "a whitey". Having never spoken to a white person himself, Betts honors his Peer by imitating his crime.
He is sentenced to 9 years in an adult prison, where he spends the majority of his time, improving himself while seeking out (the knowledge) that will appease his desire to understand who he really is. Transferred from one prison to another, some bad some not so bad, he experiences a series of epiphanies, that mark his progress, told in such a way that can only be described as remarkable. He gets into trouble and goes to confinement frequently to read and contemplate his goals with less distraction. Towards the end of his sentence he teaches himself another language and describes prison as the most culturally diverse place he'd been to up to that point. But through it all he describes his time as being very alone. Betts did his time his way and left the same way he came in "alone". "VENI VIDI VICI!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Why?, January 9, 2010

By 

sandra martin (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison (Hardcover)

I read this book for answers as to why so many young men make bad choices that land them in prison. One can see prison as a logical destination for somebody with poor schooling and few marketable skills. The three hots and a cot plus health benefits that prison offers might be a better prospect than anything else. But R. Dwight Betts was different. An honor student with no criminal record, Betts was on the college track not the prison track. Yet, prison was where he was sent, at the age of 16, for carjacking. The judge gave him nine years (He could have received 5 years for robbery, 3 years for use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and 15 years for carjacking. Perhaps Betts' age and scholastic achievements helped reduce his sentence). Betts does an adequate job of describing those nine years. But, no where in the book does he explain why he committed the crime. There is, however, a kind of epiphany in one of the last chapters, when Betts observes another young inmate in for carjacking. Pondering the stupidity of such an act, Betts concludes, "There's no money in it. Just glorified joyriding". One wonders why he didn't realize that before he decided to pull a gun on a man sleeping in his car.