A carjacking at 16 took 9 years of his life. Now an author and poet, Betts tells his story at WTC today

The 37-year-old will speak at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

A carjacking when he was 16 years old sent him to prison for nine years.

Today, the 37-year-old is a poet and an author having turned his life around. Reginald Dwayne Betts will tell his story at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. today at Western Technical College.

He’s the author of Questions of Freedom. Part of his message will be fixing the criminal justice system and why it needs to be reformed.

“We are incarcerating too many for too long a period of time,” Betts said. “We need better ways to think about and deal with violence in the community and how to address violence in the community.”

Betts will also speak about the flaws within the criminal justice system.

Betts will be at the Student Union in the afternoon and the Lunda Center tonight, following a 6:30 p.m. book signing.