BPI alumnus Dyjuan Tatro ’18, government affairs officer for the Bard Prison Initiative, recently penned an op-ed on the value of investing public funds in college in prison. This article, reproduced below, first appeared in the New York Daily News. Read the full article below: The… Read More
Program: Advocacy & Policy
Op-Ed – The right to learn behind bars: Encouraging college in prison reduces recidivism and helps society
By Dyjuan Tatro Opinion Contributor The movement for criminal justice reform in New York has made some progress lately. The Legislature eliminated cash bail for most low-level offenses and passed broad discovery and speedy trial reforms. The governor has begun to grant clemency, albeit in a… Read More
Op-Ed – Access to higher ed for incarcerated students is essential to criminal justice reform
by Darren Mack Opinion Contributor As I walked across the stage this year to graduate with my MSW at Hunter College, I thought about the incarcerated people I’ve left behind — especially those who grew up in any of the seven communities where over 70 percent of… Read More
Jule Hall ’11 and Lynn Novick sit down with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer to discuss ’College Behind Bars’
This morning, the documentary filmmaker Lynn Novick and BPI Alumnus Jule Hall ’11 discussed College Behind Bars with Brian Lehrer. Check out the full conversation below: Read More
Op-Ed: Some of My Proudest Accomplishments Happened in Prison. How Should I Talk About Them?
When my day begins with my phone buzzing 10 times in a row, it’s usually a bad sign. This time was different. My friends were going wild because a follow-up story about our debate team’s 2016 victory against Harvard University was trending on Apple… Read More
Op-Ed: Formerly incarcerated student: Society owes men and women in prison chance to return whole
PBS documentary shows how higher education helped me remove the shackles of incarceration. College degrees in prison can do the same for others. I am choosing to publicly out myself as a convicted felon in this column. Let me tell you why. In March of… Read More
‘Undoing a mistake’: Inside the push to bring college education back to prison
This article, reproduced below, first appeared in USA Today. PHILADELPHIA – Stacks of books are organized meticulously by genre amid the chaos of a maximum security prison. A makeshift desk made from cardboard is placed over a sink in a cramped cell. A chalkboard is filled with… Read More
Documentary to Showcase Education in Prison
The Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference Friday in Washington hosted a panel discussion and preview of a new PBS documentary series that follows incarcerated people who are pursuing college degrees. The four-part series, “College Behind Bars,” was executive produced by Ken Burns and directed… Read More
College Behind Bars Screens at the Congressional Black Caucus
On September 13, Congressman Bobby Rush hosted a screening at the annual Congressional Black Caucus Conference to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Crime Bill. Ken Burns and Deanna Hoskins of JustLeadershipUSA joined director Lynn Novick, Max Kenner, and BPI alumnus Wes Caines ’09 for a discussion. If you'll be… Read More
25th Anniversary of the 1994 Crime Bill
September 13th marks the 25th anniversary of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, often referred to the 1994 Crime Bill. It was one of the most far-reaching crime bills ever passed by Congress, with widespread implications. But for the field… Read More