This film following students of the Bard Prison Initiative is a tribute to their ambition and endeavour – and an indictment of the absence of funding for such programmes It should not be strange to hear prisoners talk about The Oresteia or Moby-Dick or eukaryotic cell structure… Read More
Highlight: College Behind Bars
College Behind Bars with Max Kenner and Sebastian Yoon
The Bard Prison Initiative is a revolutionary program that provides a rigorous college education to men and women in prison. In one of our most power episodes ever, BPI’s founder Max Kenner and recent graduate Sebastian Yoon join Adam this week to discuss how… Read More
How Jule Hall, Graduate of the Bard Prison Initiative, Spends His Sundays
After serving 22 years in prison, he is making up for lost time, with a job at the Ford Foundation, good coffee and a long soak in the tub. By Ted Alcorn Few people know the joy of a free Sunday like Jule Hall. For 22… Read More
How A Liberal Arts Education Helps Felons Become ‘Civic Beings’
By Emily Chamlee-Wright Later this month, professors Chris Surprenant (University of New Orleans) and Jason Brennan (Georgetown University) will release their new book on mass incarceration, Injustice for All: How Financial Incentives Corrupted and Can Fix the U.S. Criminal Justice System. The numbers, Surprenant reminded me in… Read More
Prisoners can read Shakespeare, too
Student Shawnta Montgomery spoke inspiring words at her graduation ceremony: "Inside the walls of a classroom, you escape the walls of a cell — and you become an individual again." Montgomery was graduating from the Bard Prison Initiative program, featured in the new PBS and… Read More
What Happens When Incarcerated People Get a World-Class Education?
One graduate, featured in a new PBS documentary, shares the ups and downs of earning a degree behind bars. In the fall of 2015, a maximum-security prison in New York invited Harvard’s debate team to compete against a squad of three incarcerated men. The men,… Read More
College behind bars: Education’s transformative power for America’s incarcerated men and women
By Lynn Novick Special to The Times In February 2012, my longtime producer and collaborator, Sarah Botstein, and I were invited to give a guest lecture and show scenes from our documentary, “Prohibition,” to college students taking a course on the history of social movements in America.… Read More
‘College Behind Bars’ Makes Case For Allowing Inmates To Get College Educations In Prison
A new documentary, "College Behind Bars," explores what happens when a college education is provided to people who are incarcerated. We speak to Patriots Safety Devin McCourty about how the film relates to his work off the field as a governing member of the NFL… Read More
Incarcerated People Can Do More than Beat Harvard in a Debate
“College Behind Bars,” a new PBS documentary executive-produced by Ken Burns, shines a light on a program that every major university in America should be sponsoring By Jamil Smith When you watch College Behind Bars, which began last night on PBS and concludes tonight, or any… Read More
‘This Is a Story of Hope.’ New Documentary Series College Behind Bars Follows Men and Women Working to Gain College Degrees While in Prison
“Inside the walls of a classroom, you escape the walls of a cell — and you become an individual again.” So says Shawnta Montgomery, speaking at her graduation in the Bard Prison Initiative in College Behind Bars, the latest documentary project from Ken Burns… Read More