Customer Reviews

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

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"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!

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!

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.

Reminds me of Demico Boothe's WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK MEN IN PRISON? Why Are So Many Black Men in Prison? A Comprehensive Account of How and Why the Prison Industry Has Become a Predatory Entity in the Lives of African-American Men and is a must read for sure! I just love to see young black men who have endured extreme hardships and grown from their experiences try to spread positive hopeful messages to others who need the inspiration to not give up. Kudos for this young author and this book's message!!

R. Dwayne Betts is a fine writer. His insights into education and the correctional system should be required reading for all who work in education. What he learned while he was incarcerated reaches deeply into motivation of all students, and it is delivered by a gifted young writer.

this book was amazing! who would have ever thought that someone so articulate and passionate about education, and especially literature would have ever ended up in such a horrible place.

this gave me a great birds-eye view of incarceration, how it drastically effects juveniles. you did your thing brother! can't wait to read the next book of what happened when you got out.

Mr. Betts has written a gorgeous, fresh, constantly-surprising book about an ugly, predictable, destructive experience we wrongly put too many young people through. My wife, who teaches high school, said every high-school student needs to read this book for its honesty and quiet wisdom. I say, cliche as it sounds, read this book to watch one human spirit conquer things that would drag most of us down. The book is beautiful--Betts is a poet, too, and it shows. It sparks with life and makes the reader furious with a legal system--and a larger culture--that treats people so badly, and so stupidly. Mr. Betts is now working to try to end the incarceration of kids with adults; we should all be working with him. But those of us who have had all kinds of advantages should not need Mr. Betts to tell us what we ought to know. I hope he is strong enough for the work he has taken on!

I admire this writer. He rose above very tough circumstances and tells us a compelling, eye-opening story.

However, I found this book bit dense and repetitive at times. I wanted to know more about how he developed as a poet and writer.

There was only one poem: the first one accepted for publication, and glimpses of Mr. Betts's move to writing come mostly at the end of 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.

Coming home on a Friday, late at night, my wife and I caught R. Dwayne Betts on PBS's Tavis Smiley, and were floored at his presence, his story and his attitude. I went online and ordered the book from my library the next day. While the quality of the writing is not exceptional, the arc of the tale follows well his transformation (as it is based on journals he kept) from a caught-up teenager to a wise young man. A one-time carjacker, Betts struggles immediately to explain even to himself the reason for his crime. He eventually becomes a self taught no-excuses guy who learns that he can learn from his time in prison, and seems to take full advantage.

One of the aspects of Betts' interview with Smiley that truly captured me was his emphasis on reading. I, like I feel many young men do, have exercised my imagination about what prison life is like. Film and television provide the majority of the popular opinion about prison. Fear of prison is a very powerful motivator, its reputation exists with a wide current of the horror of rape and violence. That violence has a palpable effect on people. I always told myself that if I had to go to prison there are only two things I'd try to anticipate looking forward too: exercising and reading. In a place where trusting others is as dangerous as it is necessary, these are two things that one can manage and take pride in. Betts does both. Reading about Betts self education was a real highlight of this book. It proved to me that his mentality and spirit were shaped for the better by prison, which, despite its myriad of indignities and horrors and punishments, needs to be its aim. As such, Dwayne Betts is a success story and that feels good to learn about.

I'd wholly recommend this to kids, high school aged especially. As well, you can follow Betts on Facebook.