When College Behind Bars premiered four years ago on PBS and later moved to Netflix, it served as an introduction for many people to learn about college-in-prison. Since the film’s airing, there have been many policy wins for the field of college education in… Read More
Program: National Projects
Summer Residency 2020
Today we closed out our second annual BPI summer residency. This year's gathering was all virtual with members of BPI's Consortium For the Liberal Arts in Prison joining BPI staff on Zoom for two rich weeks packed with workshops on the nuts and bolts… Read More
Documentary Provides Rare Look at Higher Education in Prison
Emerson College launched the Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) and joined the Consortium in 2017 with an initial cohort of twenty students at Massachusetts Correctional Institute at Concord who began coursework in the fall of 2017. With assistance from BPI, EPI is expanding course offerings… Read More
Students and Inmates Westville Correctional Partnership Offers Inmates Opportunity for Education
The Moreau College Initiative — a collaboration between the University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College and the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) — offers certain inmates at Westville Correctional Facility the opportunity to earn an Associate of Arts degree from Holy Cross College. The… Read More
Boston College Establishes Prison Education Program
The Boston College Prison Education Program (BCPEP) recently launched and joined the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison. With the support of BPI and friends of the University, BCPEP has launched a college-in-prison program within MCI-Shirley. The first cohort was admitted in summer… Read More
University of Puget Sound To Launch Bachelor’s Degree Program
The Freedom Education Project of Puget Sound (FEPPS) joined BPI's Consortium For the Liberal Arts in Prison in 2014 and received several years of seed funding from BPI. FEPPS provides a rigorous college program to incarcerated women in Washington and creates pathways to higher… Read More
A ‘Second Chance’ After 27 Years in Prison: How Criminal Justice Helped an Ex-Inmate Graduate
Goucher College partnered with BPI to create the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) in 2011. Now a national leader in the field, GPEP currently enrolls about 100 incarcerated Goucher students across two prison facilities in Maryland. This article, reproduced below, first appeared in the… Read More
Washington University graduates its first class of students in prison
Faculty at Washington University in St. Louis worked together with BPI to design and launch the Washington University Prison Education Project (PEP), which joined the Consortium in 2014. In 2019, PEP students celebrated the program's first graduation with the ten students earning Associates degrees… Read More
Trapped Bodies, Freed Minds
The Washington Corrections Center for Women is intimidating in its size and structure. Located in Gig Harbor, it is the largest women’s prison in Washington, housing more than 700 women of all security levels from across the state. High chain-link fences wound in wide loops of… Read More
‘Could I make it in college?’: His journey to a bachelor’s degree started behind bars
Six years ago, two prison cellmates became, to their surprise, college roommates. Donte Small was doing time at Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup for assault with a handgun. Sanford Barber was in for involuntary manslaughter. Both were looking constantly to improve themselves. One day, Barber… Read More