By Jesse King
A college-in-prison program put on by Bard College is picking up the slack following the collapse of two private university programs earlier this year. The Bard Prison Initiative has been enrolling incarcerated students in degree programs at prisons across New York for more than 25 years. In recent weeks, it accepted transfers from Medaille University at the Albion Correctional Facility for women, and from Alliance University at Fishkill Correctional Facility for men, after both schools announced they were closing for good.
BPI Executive Director Max Kenner tells WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Jesse King that it was an easy decision, but one that required the program’s largest single expansion to date.