BPI Alumnus Darren Mack ’13 writes about the Correction Officers Benevolent Association and its role in opposing recent efforts to close Rikers Island. His op-ed was first published in the New York Daily News and is reproduced below. For the past few months, the tragedy… Read More
Author:
Ojus Doshi
Opinion: Turn on the TAP for Incarcerated New Yorkers
BPI Alumnus George Chochos '10 makes the case for the return of Tuition Assistance Program eligibility for people incarcerated in New York State prisons in City Limits. Photo by Gary Miller Original Publication Date: January 28, 2020 In 2001, I was one of over 70,000 people in… Read More
Letter to the Editor: Next Step for New York College-in-Prison Program That Turned My Life Around
BPI Alumna Stacy Burnett '20, a writer and current College & Community Fellowship (CCF) fellow, tells her story as a response to an article about the state of college-in-prison in New York in The Gotham Gazette. Read the full article below: To the Editor: Regarding "New York… Read More
PBS chronicles 12 [incarcerated students] who value education in ‘College Behind Bars’
BPI alumni Jule Hall and Salih Israil, who are featured in College Behind Bars, spoke with Patrice Gaines along with the film’s director, Lynn Novick. This article, reproduced below, first appeared in NBC News. The film fills the screen with stories about human transformation as… Read More
The Right to Learn Behind Bars: Encouraging College in Prison Reduces Recidivism and Helps Society
BPI alumnus Dyjuan Tatro ’18, government affairs officer for the Bard Prison Initiative, recently penned an op-ed on the value of investing public funds in college in prison. This article, reproduced below, first appeared in the New York Daily News. Read the full article below: The… Read More
Vulture: In College Behind Bars, Prisoners Step Into the Classroom
Ted Alcorn writes about BPI Alumnus Rodney Spivey-Jones’s ('17) unique experience of watching himself in a screening of the documentary film College Behind Bars, behind bars. The article, reproduced below, first appeared in Vulture, from New York Magazine. From the article: Spivey-Jones had already seen earlier… Read More
Access to higher ed for incarcerated students is essential to criminal justice reform
As College Behind Bars puts a spotlight on the issue of college in prison, 25 years after the removal of Pell Grants for people in prison, BPI Alumnus Darren Mack '13 shares his thoughts on higher education’s role in criminal justice reform and the… Read More
Jule Hall ’11 and Lynn Novick sit down with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer to discuss ’College Behind Bars’
This morning, the documentary filmmaker Lynn Novick and BPI Alumnus Jule Hall ’11 discussed College Behind Bars with Brian Lehrer. Check out the full conversation below: Read More
Op-Ed: Some of My Proudest Accomplishments Happened in Prison. How Should I Talk About Them?
When my day begins with my phone buzzing 10 times in a row, it’s usually a bad sign. This time was different. My friends were going wild because a follow-up story about our debate team’s 2016 victory against Harvard University was trending on Apple… Read More
Op-Ed: Formerly incarcerated student: Society owes men and women in prison chance to return whole
PBS documentary shows how higher education helped me remove the shackles of incarceration. College degrees in prison can do the same for others. I am choosing to publicly out myself as a convicted felon in this column. Let me tell you why. In March of… Read More