Freedom Reads Opens Libraries at Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center
The new libraries, built by formerly incarcerated staff, aim to foster imagination, self-expression, and hope for young people inside.
HAMDEN, CT, Dec. 15, 2025—Freedom Reads, a national nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to literature in prisons, announced today the opening of eight Freedom Libraries at the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center in North Brunswick Township, NJ. This initiative aims to provide incarcerated youth with daily access to books, fostering reflection, learning, and self-expression in an environment often defined by confinement.
Each library, handcrafted by formerly incarcerated staff, features a carefully curated collection of titles spanning poetry, fiction, history, and memoir. Strategically placed within cellblocks, the libraries encourage spontaneous engagement, ensuring that literature is readily accessible to every young person inside.
During the visit, the Freedom Reads team also joined the youth for an assembly, where formerly incarcerated team members spoke candidly about their experiences with reading while in prison and the role books played in shaping their journeys. Their reflections offered the young people a meaningful point of connection.
Freedom Reads Founder Reginald Dwayne Betts highlighted the personal significance of bringing Freedom Libraries to a juvenile facility: “Twenty-nine years ago this week, I woke up incarcerated in a juvenile facility at 16, convinced I had ruined my life. Back then, only my mother showed up for me. So being here now, with our team showing up for the youth at Middlesex, is particularly meaningful. Freedom Libraries give incarcerated people books to read, but more than that, they show that people who’ve done time are standing with them—and that there are real possibilities for their futures.”
Alexis Dixon, a social worker at the facility, echoed this belief in the power of reading: “If they keep reading and open their minds, they can still find something they love—something they’re passionate about. There is hope. One moment, one choice, doesn’t have to define them. They can still choose who they want to be and the kind of person they want to become.”
Superintendent Karen Taylor spoke to the youth about the power of literature, emphasizing its ability to expand possibility even in restrictive environments. “In any place of extreme restriction, reading is not merely escape; it is the unshackling of the mind, transforming limited boundaries into a boundless library—where the true sentence is not physical confinement, but stagnation unread.”
The collaboration between Freedom Reads and the Middlesex County Department of Youth Services underscores a shared commitment to education and personal transformation through literature.