Profile | Alumni News

Alumni Voices: From BPI to MBA – A Bard Graduate Degree First

In May Stacy Burnett became the first BPI alum to earn a Bard graduate degree. In this quarter’s newsletter to BPI students inside, Stacy described her educational journey. It is replicated here.   I earned my first degree—an MBA in Sustainability—in May 2023 from Bard's Graduate Programs… Read More 

News | Alumni News

Bard MBA Student, BPI Alum wins Mid-Hudson Business Plan Competition, Three Other Bard Teams Compete

This first appeared in Lead The Change: A Resource for Aspiring Leaders in Sustainability   Stacy Burnett has a powerful idea to shake up the big-business of prison re-entry: hire formerly incarcerated people to mentor folks who are newly released.  Stacy, a current Bard MBA student,… Read More 

Communications | Alumni News

Alumni Voices: Jose Pérez ’13

On the onset of the pandemic, BPI developed a newsletter that was sent to incarcerated students weekly to retain communication between students and the college. The newsletter contained news and updates from across BPI’s 7 in-prison campuses; the Bard Microcolleges in Holyoke, Brooklyn, and… Read More 

Communications | Alumni News

Alumni Voices: Patrick Stephens ’19

On the onset of the pandemic, BPI developed a newsletter that was sent to incarcerated students weekly to retain communication between students and the college. The newsletter contained news and updates from across BPI’s 7 in-prison campuses; the Bard Microcolleges in Holyoke, Brooklyn, and… Read More 

Alumni News

BPI Upstate Reentry Resident Shawn Young ’19 Talks Care, Concern, and Community on Radio Kingston’s Good Work Hour

For formerly incarcerated individuals returning to their communities, “clean, safe, and stable” housing is crucial, says Shawn Young ’19, upstate reentry resident for the Bard Prison Initiative. Speaking to his experience as a Bard alumnus through the Bard Prison Initiative, Young told the Good… Read More 

‘Anything is possible.’ [Student] from Middletown won appeal after earning college, paralegal degree behind bars

A Middletown man and former convict is sharing his unconventional story of success in hopes of inspiring others, after earning his college and paralegal degree behind bars – and winning his own appeal.

Derek Brown was 18 years old when a prison sentence for burglary changed his life forever.

“Psychologically, it was shocking, shocking to my conscience,” he says.

At the time, Brown was in ninth grade and working toward his GED after several setbacks, including the death of his grandmother who raised him as a child.

“That’s when the downward spiral started,” he says. “The eventual outcome was a 16-year prison sentence, unfortunately.”

Brown says he pleaded guilty in 2011 in Sullivan County to what he thought would be a 12-year sentence, which instead turned out to be 16 years behind bars.

He ended up at Coxsackie Correctional Facility where a flyer for the Bard Prison Initiative gave the teen an unexpected new direction.

“Everything happens for a reason. Honestly, I don’t think I would have ever gone to college if I didn’t go to prison,” he says.

Brown went on to finish his associate degree, while studying law and earning a paralegal certificate.

In 2020, he filed for an appeal in his own case and won.

“I was able to re-argue my appeal saying my guilty plea wasn’t under proper information from the court, challenging the conflict of interest between the judge and victim in my case,” he says.

Brown is now 29 years old and was released last year after serving 10 years in prison.

He’s taking classes toward his bachelor’s degree at Bard in Brooklyn and hopes to continue studying law at Columbia University.

He’s sharing his story as a message of hope for anyone in need of a second chance.

“It’s never too late to change a mindset. If you truly want something and you strive for it and you believe in what you’re working towards, anything is possible,” he says.

Studies show college prison programs have high success rates nationwide when it comes to lowering re-offense rates and helping incarcerated individuals find jobs when they’re released.

Event | Alumni Affairs

Learning to Code: Alumni Reflect on Their Experience in BPI’s Restart Program

BPI launched Restart in 2018 through the generous support of the National Science Foundation to build bridges between computer science training in prison and computer science entrepreneurialism after prison. Through the Restart program, BPI explored the question: "does informal learning offer an under-utilized pathway for… Read More 

BPI and College Behind Bars in The Appeal

Rodney Spivey-Jones from documentary with The Appeal, Justice in America, and College Behind Bars logos to the right of him.

The Appeal featured several segments about BPI in two Justice in America podcast episodes, as well as an op-ed. Check out more details below:


4/22/2019

Justice in America Episode 29: Schools in Prison

Josie Duffy Rice and co-host Derecka Purnell are joined by Dyjuan Tatro ’18 and Wesley Caines ’09 along with filmmakers Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein to talk about education in prisons, the Bard Prison Initiative, and the documentary College Behind Bars.

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4/29/2019

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 ’17 and Max Kenner ’01 about the Bard Prison Initiative and Bard College.

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4/29/2019

Op-Ed – College Programs in Prison Show the Value of Educating Every American

Prisons, BPI graduate Rodney-Spivey Jones ’17 writes, should be institutions of learning, not ‘wastelands’ that willfully overlook human potential.

READ MORE

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