At a workshop in Hamden, Michael Byrd and James Flynn are standing at their stations, smoothing thin slabs of wood with sandpaper. It鈥檚 the first step in building a bookcase.
Their work is part of Freedom Reads, a 黑瓜吃料网-based nonprofit that delivers hand-crafted bookcases full of new books to prisons across the country.
Building these bookcases is personal for Byrd and Flynn 鈥� both craftsmen have served time in prison.
鈥淚鈥檓 doing a lot of things that I never thought I could do,鈥� Byrd said. 鈥淔irst of all, making furniture that鈥檚 beautiful. I never worked with wood before.鈥�
The bookcases are made of maple, oak, walnut or cherry. Employees oil them to bring out the color. They say the smell of wood brings nature into cell blocks, which are often made of metal and concrete.
Flynn went to prison when he was 20 and spent more than 30 years there. He鈥檚 a grandfather now and organizes a group that cleans local parks in New Haven.
When he was incarcerated, Flynn said he felt like the world didn鈥檛 recognize his humanity.
鈥淚鈥檝e been stocked on a shelf in Amazon,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 just a serial number.鈥�
In prison, books were a way for Flynn to connect with other people. He read a wide range of genres.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how to be a husband,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o I鈥檒l grab the Harlequin romances. And I鈥檒l read them.鈥�
Seeing 鈥榦ne of their own鈥�
The Freedom Reads employees don鈥檛 just build the bookcases 鈥� they also bring them inside the prisons.
When the bookcases are placed inside a cell block, employees call them Freedom Libraries. So far they鈥檝e created close to 500 Freedom Libraries at nearly 50 prisons across the country.
Steven Parkhurst, the communications manager at Freedom Reads, spent 30 years in prison and said returning can be emotional, especially when he sees facilities that lack resources. But he said it means something for incarcerated people to see someone keep returning to prisons.
鈥淏ut the folks to see one of their own, kind of getting out, and to go 鈥楴o no, hold on a second, what you do is travel the country?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥溾�楢nd you go into prisons nationwide? And you bring books and libraries into these spaces?鈥欌��
To date, he has been in more than 50 prisons. His friends joke that he is the most incarcerated man in America.
鈥榊ou want to do something鈥�
In early May, Parkhurst and a few members of the Freedom Reads team went to Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution in Somers, which already has seven Freedom Libraries, for an event that included a book reading.
Parkhurst served the end of his sentence there, and he knew some of the people he saw, including a former roommate. Recognizing people puts things into perspective.
鈥淪ometimes you say 鈥榠t鈥檚 OK when I suffer,鈥� right? And you鈥檙e hard on yourself and you say 鈥業 deserve that,鈥欌�� Parkhurst said. 鈥淏ut when you watch other people suffer, you know you want to do something for them.
Freedom Reads was started by Reginald Dwayne Betts, a lawyer and award-winning poet who was formerly incarcerated. His book 鈥淔elon鈥� was a finalist for the 2019 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
After law school, Betts said someone asked him what he would do if money weren鈥檛 an issue, and his answer was Freedom Reads.
Books, he said, 鈥渙ffer you the opportunity to reach for some of the stuff that鈥檚 missing from your life.鈥�
鈥淪ometimes that鈥檚 your only way to reach for the full bandwidth of human emotions,鈥� he said.
He remembers opening a book his aunt gave him while he was incarcerated and seeing dozens of four-leaf clovers spill out of it.
鈥淭he delight of finding the four-leaf clovers in a prison cell was not just about the four-leaf clovers, but everything that was missing in a prison cell,鈥� he said.
In prison, book selection is limited. Books can be tattered with pages torn out. A reader might be gripped by the climax of a story only to find the ending missing. So, along with the bookcases, Freedom Reads always delivers the same collection of 500 new books.
Those books mean something to people like Greg Sarris, who is incarcerated at Willard-Cybulski. Many people in prison don鈥檛 have a lot of contact with the outside world.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not many things to do, but work out and read, and that鈥檚 about it, unless you want to sit and look at a concrete wall all day,鈥� he said.
鈥業t鈥檚 success鈥�
Prison officials see the impact of Freedom Reads on incarcerated people, too.
鈥淎 big fear and concern is they鈥檙e not gonna make it or they don鈥檛 have a plan or they think it鈥檚 impossible,鈥� said Anthony Campanelli, deputy warden at Willard-Cybulski. 鈥淪o when you have these individuals come in who鈥檝e shown success, whether it be slow success or rapid success, it鈥檚 success.鈥�
Workers for Freedom Reads served prison time for a range of crimes, including manslaughter, murder and carjacking. But they say books can inspire those in prison to change their lives.
There鈥檚 one book in particular that seems to have made an impact on many of those who鈥檝e spent time in prison.
Freedom Reads employees and incarcerated people often mention 鈥淭he Count of Monte Cristo鈥� as one of their favorite books. It鈥檚 one of the 500 books included in every Freedom Library.
The classic 1840s adventure novel is about a wrongly-convicted prisoner who literally escapes. But for incarcerated people, reading the book offers a figurative escape 鈥� one provided by craftsmen who understand that in prison, a bookcase can be so much more than just a bookcase.
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Reginald Dwayne Betts explains why he started in this episode of 黑瓜吃料网鈥檚 鈥淒isrupted.鈥�
