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    A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison
    A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison
    A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison
    Audiobook6 hours

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

    Written by Reginald Dwayne Betts

    Narrated by Sean Crisden

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 15, 2018
    ISBN9781977374134
    A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison
    Author

    Reginald Dwayne Betts

    Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, legal scholar, educator and prison reform advocate. At age 16 he committed an armed carjacking, was prosecuted as an adult, and sentenced to nine years in prison. He started reading and writing poetry during his incarceration.

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    Reviews for A Question of Freedom

    3.5/5

    19 ratings2 reviews

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    • 2/5
      More an informal collection of recollections than memoir, this work reads something like a selection of blog entries related to reading and prison, only the very beginning and the very ending standing out as clearly ordered. As such, this comes across as too half-hazard an attempt at broaching questions related to youth in prison and the justice system, falling far short of the clear subtitle for the work: "A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison".The biggest problem I had in reading this, however, wasn't one of organization. It was the question of coming of age. More often than not, the book fails to make prison-life sound like anything more than an extended solitary stay in a library or retreat for reading, violence and injustice (or justice) on the outskirts. Beyond acknowledging that his views are wider because of what he's read, which he may have read in or out of prison, Betts also doesn't seem to (or claim to) mature as a result of his sentence. Reading this work, it's easy to forget that he's guilty of a crime, and while I don't begin to think that the nine years he served were actually deserved (at that length) for the crime he committed, any attentive reader has to at some point wonder: In all those nine years, shouldn't you be able to say why you committed the crime? After those nine years, shouldn't the resulting memoir speak to its supposed subjects of survival, maturity, and justice, moreso than the constant theme of trying to find ways to pass the time?It's possible that a clearer or more linearly organized narrative could have done Betts' story more justice. As the book stood, though, I didn't feel like the focus of the novel had any weight whatsoever beyond the close focus on Betts' personal experience. Certainly, there was little questioning or discussion of justice or maturation, beyond, again, passing time.On the whole, this was a disappointing read, and though well-written, probably not something I'd expect anyone to learn something from, or even find truly thought-provoking. Based on the writing and the experiences behind the work, I have to think that Betts would have been better served writing a novel.Unfortunately, I can't recommend this one.
    • 3/5
      I read this book in my capacity as the co-chair of the university's Common Experience committee. Given that our theme for the next academic year focuses on social issues and social justice, I think this book would be a good selection for our common reading.