When College Behind Bars premiered four years ago on PBS and later moved to Netflix, it served as an introduction for many people to learn about college-in-prison. Since the film’s airing, there have been many policy wins for the field of college education in… Read More
BPI Blog
Content Type: Profile
Alumni Voices: From BPI to MBA – A Bard Graduate Degree First
In May Stacy Burnett became the first BPI alum to earn a Bard graduate degree. In this quarter’s newsletter to BPI students inside, Stacy described her educational journey. It is replicated here. I earned my first degree—an MBA in Sustainability—in May 2023 from Bard's Graduate Programs… Read More
Commitment to Access: A Conversation about the Unconventional and College-in-Prison
This conversation between BPI alumnus Elías Beltrán ‘17 and Megan Callaghan, the program’s Dean, touches upon Elías’s upcoming transition to BPI faculty, the necessity of reframing college-in-prison, and the power and impact of creating educational opportunities for those who struggle to be recognized as… 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
Celebrating the launch of The Lilac House
The program, part of A New Way of Life's SAFE Housing Network, will bring needed resources to formerly incarcerated women in Westchester, NY. I founded The Lilac House project in April of 2022. The organization will address the lack of transitional housing for formerly incarcerated… Read More
TAP Fellow Opinion: In Pursuit of Educational Equity & Justice
I have never felt utter despair and failure more than when I began my incarceration. That was the most difficult, seemingly hopeless point of my life—rock bottom, so to speak. I ultimately served a decade in prison. My life took yet another unexpected turn from… Read More
Alumni Reflection Essay: Urban Vitality: The Affordable Housing Discourse in the City of Yonkers
Alumnus Jonathan Alvarez '19 participated in BPI's Community Engagement in Public Health & Public Education Internship stipend program, holding an internship with Community Governance & Development Council (CGDCNY). Below is his reflection on the experience of his internship. The new surge of high-rise developments in… Read More
Alumni Reflection Essay: The Fight Beyond the Wall
Alumnus Shawn Young '19 was invited to participate in BPI's Community Engagement in Public Health & Public Education Internship stipend program on March 13, 2020 - the day that COVID shut everything down. His original proposal to run a reentry support group through Citizen Action… Read More
Alumni Chronicles: Vanessa Fields ’17
As we close out the end of our academic and fiscal year, we are sharing short films of Bard Prison Initiative Public Health Fellows, each of whom have come to the fore as voices of experience and leadership in public health across New York… Read More