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Why I’m building libraries inside prisons | Reginald Dwayne Betts episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 28, 2026 · 14 MIN

Why I’m building libraries inside prisons | Reginald Dwayne Betts

from TED Talks Daily

At age 16, Reginald Dwayne Betts was sentenced to nine years in prison. He turned to books to help hold onto his sanity — and developed a belief that we find what we look for, even in the toughest places. Now a lawyer and poet, he's opened hundreds of Freedom Libraries inside prisons across the US, putting books he once dreamed of reading into the hands of incarcerated people. In this profound talk, he makes the case that hope is something people pass on to one another. "We put millions of people in prison. I would put millions of books inside," he says. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Sep 28, 2026

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Why I’m building libraries inside prisons | Reginald Dwayne Betts

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