The Bard Prison Initiative, in partnership with the Open Society University Network and Incarceration Nations Network, is pleased to invite you to the BPI Global Initiatives Virtual Lecture Series. The next lecture is on June 13th, 2023 at 9AM Eastern: Professor Dawn Moore, Prof. Law… Read More
Desmond Meade will give the commencement address for the 21st BPI Commencement
BPI is proud to announce Desmond Meade will give the commencement address for the 21st BPI Commencement at Eastern Correctional Facility on June 3rd, 2023, and will earn an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College. 63 incarcerated Bard students have earned degrees this… Read More
Yale Prison Education Initiative to extend curriculum to a second prison and hold first graduation ceremony
With a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, YPEI now has the capacity to offer a wider range of courses, establish a fellows program and partner with the University of New Haven. This article was originally posted on the Yale Daily News, which can… Read More
WMHT Public Media Features Bard Prison Initiative in New Series: Work in Progress
New York capital region’s public media network WMHT recently featured the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) in its new video series, Work in Progress, which shares stories of people navigating a rapidly changing economy and how they respond to the evolving needs and conditions of… Read More
Bard MBA Student, BPI Alum wins Mid-Hudson Business Plan Competition, Three Other Bard Teams Compete
This first appeared in Lead The Change: A Resource for Aspiring Leaders in Sustainability Stacy Burnett has a powerful idea to shake up the big-business of prison re-entry: hire formerly incarcerated people to mentor folks who are newly released. Stacy, a current Bard MBA student,… Read More
BPI Summer Residency 2023: What to Know Before You Arrive
Schedule Check here for last year’s schedule as a close schedule for the one that is to come for the 2023 year. Getting Here For directions and area information, please refer to the Bard College Visitors page, here. The nearest train station is in Rhinecliff. Visit Amtrak… Read More
BPI Reads: Scenes From My Life
BPI’s community reading event brings together students, faculty, and staff in and out of prison. At the start of each new year, BPI hosts its annual community reading event, BPI Reads. Through this event, BPI students, faculty, and staff reflect and engage in conversation around… Read More
Education Programs: Using Restorative Justice to Transform The Educational Space
The Bard Prison Initiative Education Fellowship is in full swing. This year we have four dedicated and creative cohorts. They are working at various junctures in the educational space, but their mission to foster more equity, more social and emotional awareness in the public… Read More
Black History Month Alumni Voices: The Sentimental Student
For BPI, every month is a month to study and celebrate Black History. As Bard College students, BPI students become scholars in their own right, not just absorbing course material but producing vital contributions to the literature. This February we asked BPI alumni what… Read More
International Congress on Higher Education in Prisons in Argentina, April 2023
BPI is pleased to announce that through support from the Open Society University Network (OSUN) and in partnership with Incarceration Nations Network (INN), we have funded an International Congress on Higher Education in Prisons that will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina this spring.… Read More
Alumni Voices: Jose Pérez ’13
On the onset of the pandemic, BPI developed a newsletter that was sent to incarcerated students weekly to retain communication between students and the college. The newsletter contained news and updates from across BPI’s 7 in-prison campuses; the Bard Microcolleges in Holyoke, Brooklyn, and… Read More