Could support for providing prisoners access to college-level courses be growing more widespread? Read More
Press Type: OpEds (Endorsements)
America’s focus on punishment means injustice, inequality
From Oscar speeches to op-ed pages, our national conversation has finally focused on one of America’s most glaring affronts to democracy: our shameful record on mass incarceration. We imprison some 2 million people, more than any other country. In the name of justice, we have… Read More
Do the Crime, Get a Degree. Should Prisons Offer College Courses to Convicted Felons?
This past Saturday, 53 inmates at Eastern Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in upstate New York, were awarded college diplomas as part o ... Read More
Bard Prison Initiative
January 26, 2015 Saturday, I had a very memorable experience. Last summer, on a visit to Eastern Correctional Institution up in Napanoch, I was introduced to prisoners who were enrolled in college – – yes, real college ! – – and was very impressed with the… Read More
A new prison equation
The latest prison movie contract, running five years and costing about $894,000, was approved by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli last month. Under the program, a vendor obtains the licensing rights for the state to show feature films in prisons. Eligible prisoners can in turn… Read More
In prison and getting an education
In a ground floor classroom, dark but for the glare of fluorescent lights, about a dozen men are discussing "The Odyssey." They’re talking about the part where Odysseus comes home after being away for so long. Read More
N.Y. Governor Says College For Inmates Will Pay Off For Taxpayers
Andrew Cuomo says funding prison college classes will cut recidivism rates. But critics say it's unfair to pay for prisoners' educations while middle-class families struggle with college costs. Read More
School of hard locks: College for prison inmates? | HLNtv.com
First degree" could take on a whole new meaning within New York's prisons if a new proposal is approved by the state legislature.Gov. Andrew Cuomo has introduced a plan to allow inmates to earn college degrees while behind bars by taking college-level courses. Cuomo… Read More
Opinion | Gov. Cuomo’s Bold Step on Prison Education
One solution against the stubbornly high rate of recidivism has long proved to be both reliable and cost-effective: education behind bars. Read More
Doing Time, With a Degree to Show for It
Would we rather help those we incarcerate build constructive lives, or have them return to prison, as more than half of them do? Read More