i can point the every book that oprah ever recommended and the poets robert hayden, i can chant a listnames. i can chant a list of names and people's whose work molded me into the person i am today. that literature helped me to define myself while i was at the place to help define me solely by those 30 minutes. i don't think it was the system in any way whatsoever. it was really because i believed that literature could do something for my life. for me that belief helped me believe that i could be more and help me to become more. tavis: were you in the same place the entire time or did you move around? >> i was a tour of the prison system. tavis: how many prisons? >> five over nine years. from a medium security prison to the maximum security prison. it was 23 hours lock down. it was supposed to be for the most violent, vicious offenders. i found myself there at age 17, 18. tavis: tds one thing to be in prison and another thing to be in solitary confinement as a kid. how do you survive that? those same books? >> this is the thing. i had to worry about my own survival and make my mom not