R. Dwayne Betts

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 an offense requiring treatment as an adult. A bright young kid, weighing only 126 pounds, he served his eight-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in the state. This is his coming-of-age story. Utterly alone--and with the growing realization that he really is not going home any time soon--Dwayne confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system, and above all, a quest for identity.--From publisher description.

a memoir of survival, learning, and coming of age in prison

A question of freedom

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 an offense requiring treatment as an adult. A bright young kid, weighing only 126 pounds, he served his eight-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in the state. This is his coming-of-age story. Utterly alone, and with the growing realization that he really is not going home any time soon, Dwayne confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system, and above all, a quest for identity. --From publisher description.

R. Dwayne Betts

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