In March, BPI shifted our in-person work in the prisons to a distance model and in June students successfully completed the spring semester of more than 85 courses across six prisons. Although we were unable to hold commencement ceremonies in June, every student who… Read More
Program: Alumni Advocacy
A Call to Action: Merit Board Eligibility
To the BPI community, Since early this year, BPI has been working with New York lawmakers to change Merit Board eligibility criteria so that incarcerated students with convictions classified as non-violent can be eligible for early release based on earning college credits. I am… 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
Alumni Chronicles: Hancy Maxis ’15
As we close out 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 City. Hancy Maxis ‘15… Read More
Alumni Chronicles: Ato Williams ’12
As we close out 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 City. Ato Williams ‘12,… Read More
Alumni Opinion: Calling on NYC Correction Officers to Support Justice Reforms Amid COVID-19 Devastation
BPI Alumna Tamika Graham ’17 issued this call for correctional staff in NYC jails to join in support of justice reform efforts in the COVID era in this opinion piece that was published in the Queens Daily Eagle and is reproduced below. By Tamika Graham Booker… Read More
Justice in America Episode 30: A Conversation with Rodney Spivey-Jones and Max Kenner
In this episode, Josie Duffy Rice and her producer, Florence Barrau-Adams, travel to Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, to interview Rodney Spivey-Jones and Max Kenner about the Bard Prison Initiative and Bard College. In January 2020, Josie Duffy Rice and her producer, Florence… Read More
Op-Ed – College Programs in Prison Show the Value of Educating Every American
Prisons, one graduate writes, should be institutions of learning, not ‘wastelands’ that willfully overlook human potential. by Rodney-Spivey Jones '17 Opinion Contributor A few weeks ago, I was sitting at a library table with several other tutors, discussing strategies for supporting first-year Bard College students. One colleague… Read More
Alumni Opinion: The Waiting Is The Hardest Part
This reflection by Stacy Burnett '20 is part of the Community Voices op-ed series for the BPI Public Health Journal. Through the COVID-19 crisis, BPI alumni, staff, and faculty will be posting reflections about their work and response to the virus here on the… Read More
Alumni Opinion: COVID-19 and My Dad
This reflection by Alexander Hall '17 is part of the Community Voices op-ed series for the BPI Public Health Journal. Through the COVID-19 crisis, BPI alumni, staff, and faculty will be posting reflections about their work and response to the virus here on the… Read More