Conan Talks To Freedom Reads Founder Reginald Betts | Conan O'Brien Needs A Fan

I have been reading your your bio, your. story, your Marvel origin story, uh Reginald, and it's fascinating. It's. amazing. Thank you. I I'm And then. rather yours, I mean, yours is amazing. Mine is just I'm I'm just trying to make. it out here. No, yours is better. >> Yeah. Honestly. >> Reginald. Reginald, I love to. I love to toot my own horn, but no, you. have me beat by a country mile. Um you just have an amazing story. You.

have a law degree from Yale Law School, and. uh which uh is insanely uh impressive. You have an MFA in poetry. And here's what's Those are incredibly. impressive accomplishments. And then you add to it that when you. were 16, you participated in a carjacking. and went to prison for 8 and 1/2 years. Yeah, that was not as impressive. That. was the bane of my existence, but.

I think you live and learn, and and for. me, you know, picking up a gun was the. most crazy. audacious violent thing I've ever done. in my life. And nobody tells you that. you could do something at 16 that'll. change your life forever. You know, as many teachers that used to. tell me, you know, I would end up in jail, well, I could. end up in jail cuz I went I lived in a. bad neighborhood, so to speak. >> Right. Um I didn't really understand. that I could change my life forever. And and I did. I changed my life. forever. So, that's the kind of. devastating thing about it is.

recognizing. that I changed my life forever. There's. so much to. people like to say unpack here. But there's so much to talk about. Um. you. as far as I know, you spent a lot of. time in solitary. when you were in in prison. And. while you're in solitary, you discovered. books. Is that correct? Yeah, I did. I. did 3 off and on in solitary, but the. thing that's really remarkable is.

I'm 18 years old, 17 years old. I'm in a. hole and they took all of your books. from me. And the thing is. 24 hours in a cell with just four walls, not as beautifully decorated as the. walls around me. >> Yeah. I'm going to say, yeah. You find. yourself That's some impressive artwork. around you. And I was unraveling and and I heard a. guy call out for a book and I realized. that these dudes had created an. underground library for themselves. What? >> And all you had to do was call out for a. book and they would send you one. And so.

I said, "Hey, yo, send me a book.". And they sent me this anthology called. The Black Poets. And that introduced me to. Robert Hayden, Lucille Clifton, Sonia. Sanchez, Langston Hughes, Sterling. Brown, Etheridge Knight. And I'm I'm. reading these words and I realized that. these poets were able to capture an. entire life in 14 lines. >> Yeah. And I remember buying two books. These are the first books I bought with. my money. It was a Sonia Sanchez book. called Under a Soprano Sky and it was.

Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Yeah. >> Now, I was I was I was trying to survive. prison. I was 5'5" and 120 lb. >> Oh my god. Of those two books, I read. Sonia Sanchez's book 100 times and I. never really I never finished reading. The Art of War. Yeah. Um because I I. learned the real way to survive prison. ended up being love. It ended up being. the exact antithesis of what had gotten. most of us in prison because I think the. antithesis of love. is violence. And so it was Sonia.

Sanchez's Under a Soprano Sky that. became a part of the. pathway of me learning to love myself, but also in learning to love myself, me. learning to understand that we had did. horrendous things to land ourselves in. prison, but that that we could be more. than those things. And and I've spent my. entire life since then trying to prove. that to be true. I'm curious, um. had you been at all interested or. intrigued by books or even the idea of.

getting around to books before you went. to prison? You know the last book that I read, so. my my local library said, uh. "Mr. Bents, we understand you're still. in prison, but we need you to return this book that. you checked out." And it was the Evelyn. Woods book, but you wouldn't believe. what book it was. It was the Evelyn. Woods guide to speed read. See, I've. always been obsessed with infomercials, right? And they would have those. infomercials on how to speed read. And I.

was just like, "My mom My mom wouldn't let me buy She. didn't believe that this guy could read, you know, a thousand words a minute.". When he was flipping the pages, my mom. said, "He's just flipping the pages.". Yeah. I said, "No, he's reading. Listen. to this." And so I went to the library. and I found that Evelyn Woods book and I. checked it out and I still remember the. tips that was in it. So I've always been. fascinated with reading. I've always. wanted to be a reader. My mom refused to. to let anybody tell me that hardback. books came out first Yep.

>> so that she could keep giving me the old. paperback books of like books I hadn't. read yet as if they were new. She'd be like, "Walter Moses, this new. book just came out." Book came out three. years ago, you know. Yeah. And so. what prison did was like, honestly, the. judge said to me, "I'm under no illusion. that sending you to prison will help, but you can get something out of it if. you try to." Right. And and I never. forgot what he told me. And I just had. to lean into what I cared about and I. asked myself, "What will you be when you.

leave prison? I mean, you're 16 now. What are you going to train yourself to. be while in here?" Yep. And I told. myself I would be a writer because the. only thing that I could name myself as. loving in that way outside of my mom was. books. And I needed to love something that I. believed might save me, and so I decided. to lean into the love of books. It's. kind of stunning to me. that you wouldn't encourage people to. read who are incarcerated. >> Mhm. And um. you know,

supposedly. the concept behind the penal system is. for people to better themselves and. reform and grow. And so. I'm amazed that. books are denied to people in solitary. And that's a new concept to me because I. would think you want people to read. You. want people to build their minds. Um. and the fact that you had to kind of do. it. uh secretly is kind of surprising to me.

Yeah, but I you know, to to the credit. of the Department of Corrections around. this country, I think that they've. improved and changed a lot. Yep. My my. biggest supporters are the Department of. Corrections. Our first Freedom Library. was in Angola. Uh I I I 1A and 1B, Angola and MCI. Norfolk where Malcolm X did his time. And you got to understand that this work. that we've done, um opening 600. libraries across the country, um prisons in 14, 15 states, about 50. different prisons,

that doesn't happen without the. Department of Corrections and the senior. leadership in the Department of. Corrections and the last CEOs also um. COs all saying, "We believe in books. We. believe in literature." And we I mean it. I I we bring 100-lb bookcases and put. them in cell blocks that have never had. anything but plastic and metal and. steel. We bring 500 brand new books into. the lives of people, many of whom have never seen a brand new. book, have never smelled a brand new.

book. I mean, you know, I I love the work that I do, but and with all due respect, it's like. the most. humbling, you know, all-inspiring thing I've been. a part of um. because to be a part of it is is to. literally watch how an invention that. dates back hundreds of years, the. Gutenberg printing press, actually is still a conduit for people. to have access to the world that he. first imagined a printing press would. get them access to. >> Yeah. Yeah. It is um. It's cool. Well, I mean, it's beyond.

cool. I want to make sure I stress this. You get out of prison. You go to Yale Law School. Um and you have founded something called. Freedom Reads. It's an organization that. gives incarcerated people access to. books. And you guys have, as you said, uh. opened. somewhere around 500 libraries across. about 45 prisons in 14 states. And this. is going to have an enormous impact. I'm. sure it already has, but.

I I do think that. exposing people to books and giving them. the chance to better themselves and find. actually the love, it's not like eating. your spinach, the love of books and the. possibilities opened by books, that's a massive thing that you've done. It's huge. I know you're a humble. person, but. it's incredible. You had this great misfortune when you. were 16 years old. And you've.

you know, you've you've. it's just a massive contribution you've. made. I cannot tell you how impressed I. am by what you've done. I appreciate. that. Now, and I you know, I I we have. seven, eight people that work for us out. of our team of 22. served time in prison. anywhere from 18 months to 30 years. And. and for each of us, you know, books. played a profound role in us reshaping. our lives. And so, I love the fact that. out there like is um. Remember I I got a bald head, but you.

remember um. um I'm I'm not just a client I'm not. just a president, I'm I'm client, you. know. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. what? The Hair. Club The Hair Club for Men. Sy Sperling. Sy Sperling would end his commercial. It. was a It was a spray, I think, that you. could put on your bald spot. And he. would say, "I'm not just a satisfied, you know, I'm not just the president. I'm a client." And then he would reveal. Yeah. This is like I feel like I just want to. I carry books around with me everywhere. to be like, "We I just don't talk about. this. I got a book in my bag, you know.". We tell people that we keep books.

because, um, books are the talisman that. would have kept us safe, um, when we. chose to pick up fist loops. Our books were the talisman that would. have kept us safe instead of the fist. loops that caused more harm.