At a recent orientation session for newly enrolled Bard students at Taconic Correctional Facility, I found myself thinking about my own undergraduate experience and the ways Bard connects people across campuses and decades. We were there to talk about the extended world of the… Read More
Program: The College
An Insider’s Perspective
With fresh pens, sharpened pencils, and brand new composition notebooks, we took our seats in the classroom for the first day of Language and Thinking—not as inmates, but as classmates. The stress and tension that seem to burst through every crack and crevice of… Read More
Some of America’s ‘Most Terrific’ Students are Behind Bars
The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act has been in the news this fall, as Democratic candidates for president debate the pros and cons of a law which some charge was a major driver of America’s mass incarceration crisis. About one component of the… Read More
Three Prison Inmates Beat Harvard in a Debate. Here’s What Happened Next.
When inmates in a New York maximum-security prison beat Harvard in a debate four years ago, their victory made international headlines and highlighted the intellectual talent behind bars. Now, the three debaters who outsmarted the Ivy Leaguers have a new round of accomplishments. Two have found professional footing after… Read More
Three [Incarcerated Students] Beat Harvard in a Debate. Here’s What Happened Next.
In 2015 the story of the Bard Prison Initiative Debate Union's win over Harvard became a global news story. Leslie Brody of the Wall Street Journal, who was there for the debate, first broke the story. Now, four years later, Brody reunited with the… Read More
How maximum security inmates took on Cambridge in a debate about nuclear weapons — and won
The three students from the University of Cambridge, wearing black suits and clutching sheaves of papers, stepped onto the wooden auditorium stage under the warm yellow lights. As members of a storied debate team, they had competed the world over but never in a… Read More
How maximum security inmates took on Cambridge in a debate about nuclear weapons — and won
The three students from the University of Cambridge, wearing black suits and clutching sheaves of papers, stepped onto the wooden auditorium stage under the warm yellow lights. As members of a storied debate team, they had competed the world over but never in a… Read More
College Behind Bars to Air on PBS in November 2019
New Four-Part Documentary Series by Lynn Novick Follows Prisoners Through Rigorous College Program; Explores How Education Transforms Lives and Impacts Criminal Justice PASADENA, CA; February 1, 2019 — Alfred I. duPont-Columbia and Peabody-Award winning filmmaker Lynn Novick (THE VIETNAM WAR, PROHIBITION, FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, THE WAR) has… Read More
BPI’s 18th Commencement
On Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, BPI conferred its 500th diploma and bestowed civil rights leader Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II with an honorary degree. Read More
BPI’s 17th Commencement
Mary Bassett delivered the commencement address at BPI's 17th commencement, where more than 40 students received associate in arts and bachelor of arts degrees, bringing the total number of Bard degrees awarded to BPI students at that time to 485. Read More