I knew my world could soon be filled with love and possibility instead of heartache and loneliness. Read More
Highlight: Advocacy and Policy
The Bard Prison Initiative to be Featured at Printers Row Lit Fest
The Chicago Ambassador interviewed the head of BPI's new Chicago office, Jessica Neptune. We're thrilled that Jessica is helping expand BPI's footprint in the mid-west, with programs well-established at Washington University, Grinnell College, and University of Notre Dame and Holy Cross College, and groundwork… Read More
Why the Ford Foundation launched a program for formerly incarcerated people—and how we did it
In late 2015, the Ford Foundation decided to "walk our talk" and hire formally incarcerated people. Our HR department explains what the process was like. Read More
How This Radical College for Inmates is Taking Its Program Outside the Walls
Nationally, nearly half of all inmates released from prison return there after committing another crime. But the recidivism rate among those who’ve earned college degrees through the Bard Prison Initiative, an adjunct program operated by liberal arts school Bard College inside six medium and maximum… Read More
College Classes In Maximum Security: ‘It Gives You Meaning’
A privately funded program provides higher education to about 300 students in New York state prisons. Graduates are less likely to get in legal trouble after prison but getting hired is a challenge. Read More
UVM Announces New Liberal Arts in Prison Program
Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont is launching a new program aimed at helping incarcerated men and women take coursework towards a college degree while serving their sentences. The UVM Liberal Arts in Prison Program (LAPP), administered by the university’s College of Arts… Read More
Here’s the most cost-effective way to solve our prison crisis
Anthony Cardenales began stealing fruit as a youngster in the South Bronx, and by the time he was 17 he was in prison, serving a 17-year sentence for murder.... Read More
Q&A with author of book about college in prison
New book tells the story of initiative that brings liberal arts education to incarcerated men and women. Read More
Scholars Behind Bars
American higher education has to deal much with bad news, as any quick scan of the country’s front pages will confirm: skyrocketing costs, runaway debt, sexual violence, and sluggish students more interested in partying than learning. But consider the following description of Bard College… Read More
Goucher College to grant bachelor’s degrees behind bars
Now inmates have that chance: Goucher College has earned permission to confer a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies behind bars. Read More