A lawyer, promoter of the rights of prisoners, award-winning poet, and past MacArthur Fellow, Reginald Dwayne Betts was a resident artist at the Lewis Center for the Arts in the summer of 2021 developing a theatrical adaptation of his poetry collection, Felon. In a new connection with Princeton University, Betts’ national nonprofit Freedom Reads has opened nine Freedom Libraries at Garden State Correctional Facility, a state prison for adults in Chesterfield, Burlington County. Princeton University Library is a supporter.
Reginald Dwayne Betts onstage with a Freedom Reads bookcase. Photo by Shakiru Bola Okoya
“Freedom Reads is, as I am personally, tremendously grateful to Princeton and the Princeton University Library for their continuing support over years,” Betts said in an announcement of the program from the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC). “This ongoing support helped make possible a powerful theater adaptation of one of my poetry collections that we now bring to incarcerated adults and kids in prisons across the nation. It is therefore most fitting that Princeton University Library joins us as we partner with the New Jersey Department of Corrections to open the First Freedom Libraries in the New Jersey prison system.”
During his Lewis Center residency, Betts worked with Jane Cox, director of the Program in Theater & Music Theater; and Elise Thoron, co-founding artistic director of Literature to Life. The collaboration produced an adaptation of his poetry collection Felon into the solo theater piece Felon: An American Washi Tale. The piece explored the consequences of having a criminal record, fatherhood, the power of literature, and love. Felon: An American Washi Tale performances were held at McCarter Theatre Center’s Berlind Theatre in March of 2023 along with related events and an exhibit co-sponsored by numerous University departments, including the University Library.
Video: Community Unites Around Felon
“It was an honor to participate in the development of Betts’ first work for the stage,” said Cox in the announcement from the NJDOC. The performance piece “powerfully demonstrated to our students how performance can bring varied communities together and humanize critical issues.”
Betts founded Freedom Reads in 2020 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation. To date, the nonprofit has opened 303 Freedom Libraries in 37 prisons across 10 states. The Garden State Correctional Facility libraries, which opened May 15 with a performance of Felon: An American Washi Tale, are the first in the New Jersey correctional system.
Books in the collection of Freedom Reads are curated through consultations with poets, novelists, philosophers, and readers. The libraries include works by novelists, essayists, and contemporary poets, as well as classics such as Homer’s The Odyssey and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, “titles that remind us that the book has long been a freedom project,” reads the release.
Anne Jarvis, Dean of Libraries and Robert H. Taylor University Librarian, said the library is proud to participate and provide support for the initiative. “Collaborating with organizations like Freedom Reads to promote opportunities to read and discover is a critical part of our mission,” she said.
Read the full story written by Anne Levin for Princeton’s Town Topics
