New Jersey DOC Opens Freedom Libraries, Invites Incarcerated Readers to Judge National Literary Prize
Caption: Freedom Reads Founder and Chief Executive Officer Reginald Dwayne Betts spoke at a Freedom Library opening at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Union Township, N.J. Photo Credit: New Jersey Department of Corrections
By Kat Balster
TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) has partnered with national nonprofit Freedom Reads to install 37 ‘Freedom Libraries’ across two state correctional facilities, a move that highlights the agency’s goals and emphasizes rehabilitation through literature and education.
There are 10 libraries now open at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility located in Union Township and 27 at Northern State Prison in Newark. The libraries are the latest additions to a national initiative led by Freedom Reads, an organization founded by 2021 MacArthur Fellow and Yale Law School graduate Reginald Dwayne Betts. The non-profit organization has a goal of placing a Freedom Library in every cellblock in every prison in America. The partnership between NJDOC and Freedom Reads represents a broader effort to increase intellectual engagement behind prison walls, values that Betts, who was incarcerated for nine years beginning at age 16, has made central to his work.
“These Freedom Library collections are more than books and resources,” said NJDOC Commissioner Victoria L. Kuhn, Esq., in a statement. “They are agents for transformation and possess the power to empower individuals, unlock opportunities, and build a culture of learning that directly supports rehabilitation, reintegration and the creation of a more promising future.”
Each Freedom Library is designed to encourage unstructured engagement with books and to build community among incarcerated people. To date, Freedom Reads has opened 478 libraries across 48 adult and youth facilities in 12 states, shipping more than 268,000 books nationwide.
In addition to launching the libraries, NJDOC is participating in the 2025 Inside Literary Prize, the first U.S.-based literary award judged exclusively by incarcerated people. Twenty-five incarcerated readers from Edna Mahan Correctional Facility and Northern State Prison are serving as official judges, joining hundreds of others from across the country in selecting this year’s winning title from a shortlist of four books. The winner will be announced in July.
The Inside Literary Prize was launched in 2023, and reflects Freedom Reads’ mission to center incarcerated people in the national literary conversation. The inaugural prize was awarded in 2024 to Imani Perry for South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation.