Reginald Dwayne Betts discovered poetry while in solitary confinement, during a prison sentence for a carjacking that he committed when he was sixteen. He was tried and sentenced as an adult, and finished high school and began writing poetry while in prison. He went on to graduate from college, and then from Yale Law School, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. Connecticut contested his admission to the bar, on the ground of “character and fitness” requirements; Betts was eventually admitted, but he tells WNYC’s Kai Wright that the experience drove home the reality that “no matter how fast you run, you’re not going to outpace the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction.” Betts reads a poem, which appears in his collection “Felon,” about trying to explain to his young son that he has served time in prison.
This segment originally aired on January 17, 2020.