The Residency leads to an ongoing community of practice that builds on over a decade of cultivating a nationwide network of leading universities and colleges in the field, through the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison. The numbers that I remember from the documentary was that at - there were about 890 or so in the institution, 110 in the program, which is a pretty good number. I'm interested in your take on this - whether vocational programs should be there. In 2016, BPI was proud to join the first cohort of sites receiving experimental eligibility through Second Chance Pell. College Behind Bars is the inspiring, emotional, deeply human story of men and women struggling to earn college degrees while in prison for serious crimes. TATRO: Having a liberal arts education has made me a much deeper thinker. . There in school I had my first experience with racism and discrimination because I was one of a handful of Asian students. But I usually put on jazz or R&B. So you have this problem where you have to try to juggle these two realities, one of which is so beautiful and one of which is so dark and disgusting where you have to reveal your body and your orifices. My father never saw me as a bad person. And, you know, just being in a classroom setting where I was sitting down with people from different backgrounds, listening to their stories and their ideas and you start to appreciate that despite the differences that we have, there are so much more similarities among us. So I pedal pretty forcefully to get a workout. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. We see him, don't we? And they are ready, and they are prepared, and they've done all the reading, and they've read the footnotes, and they've read the ancillary reading, and they are - you know, you better know what you're doing. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. They spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. The Bard Prison Initiative enrolls over 300 incarcerated students in six New York State prisons. In this era of mass incarceration, America is the world's largest jailer, with more than 2 million men and women behind bars; 630,000 are released annually, and nearly 50 percent end up back in . And I think the answer is no. YOON: Two more years after my bachelor's degree in 2017. Sebastian Yoon, tell us a little about yourself. And then you say, oh, this is my reality. College-in-prison, which had been common in prisons across the country, collapsed. They were doing advanced mathematics, math without numbers on the board. Lynn Novick, Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, welcome to FRESH AIR. I thought it was incredibly well done in all ways. Turkish prisons do not have a specific policy regarding children, but in general, they are not allowed in prison. DYJUAN TATRO: You know, one of the most salient moments for me in my time in BPI is my first time walking in to the Bard library at Eastern Correctional Facility. He worked 11-hour shifts, so he was mostly at work. I'm not going to wear that. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. And she said, well, welcome to college. TATRO: Yeah. Both of you went into prison as teenagers and came out as young men. Recidivism rates skyrocketed for a variety of reasons, including this, and slowly, some privately funded programs started to come back in. The faculty generally find this experience so energizing because of that exact thing - that they have to sort of - if they're teaching a course on the Bard campus and in BPI, they actually have to make the BPI version a bit harder, get more assignments and, you know, up the reading because the students are just so eager for the material and expect so much. I had to write that I swept and mopped floors. Adjust the colors to reduce glare and give your eyes a break. And when we leave this room tonight, there is now something that can be taken away from you that's completely different than when you walked in. I don't see myself as a person. It radiates and ramifies throughout my entire family structure, you know? Congratulations. It's not our business. And he said - he says to me, you stood up. When Bard Prison Initiative Students Debated Harvard. The bipartisan restoration of Pell Grant eligibility to incarcerated students is a clear political endorsement of the value of college-in-prison, signaling to New York that it is past time to also restore TAP. I think that realization came to me when I sat down and began writing my first cover letter and my first resume. They contribute to their communities in all the ways one might expect of any college graduate. How can we have justice without redemption? So, you know, Bard has some re-entry services, mainly job placement and career development. to What will the field of college-in-prison look like? PBS chronicles 12 inmates who value education in 'College Behind Bars' The film fills the screen with stories about human transformation as cameras follow a dozen incarcerated men and women. YOON: Oh, yeah, without a doubt. A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE Once I put something in my stomach, I bike ride. Theres not many bathtubs that can accommodate me, but I have a bathtub that partially can, as long as I put my legs up on the wall. And they understand that research shows inmates who earn masters degrees behind bars have a 0% recidivism rate. I have two brothers - one older, one younger. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. Part 2: 'I'm Trying to Get Home to My Family, Too.'. I guess you still treasure that moment, don't you? So it has a ripple effect even beyond people applying to just - you know, the facilities where there is higher education have less incidence of violence and disruption and things like that. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. College Behind Bars is directed and produced by Lynn Novick; produced by Sarah Botstein; edited by Tricia Reidy ACE; produced by Salimah El-Amin and Mariah Doran;original music by Jongnic Bontemps; cinematography by Buddy Squires ASC and Nadia Hallgren. : r/loveafterlockup. This past is constantly being resurrected. In his senior project, BPI student Rodney Spivey-Jones 17 traces the long history of struggle against anti-Black racism in America. Josie Duffy Rice and co-host Derecka Purnell are joined by Dyjuan Tatro '18 andReadMore, The Bard Prison Initiative is a revolutionary program that provides a rigorous college education to men and women in prison. So that was, like, really, really kind of humbling to see that type of support from the general population. And so yeah, that is a huge impediment to trying to learn. TURN ON THE TAP NY PRAISES GOVERNOR HOCHUL FOR INCLUDING TUITION ASSISTANCE FOR INCARCERATED NEW YORKERS IN BUDGET Reimagining the place of higher education. But while I was receiving that education, as I said, it was liberating. Because when people ask that question or that question's being asked, that's usually the implicit assumption, that they are only capable of this level of education. You got this education, and you're trying to help people now. Rodney has been incarcerated for 17 years and is currently incarcerated at Fishkill. BPI alumni overwhelmingly go home to their communities and give back in ways that positively impact the lives of others. My colleagues are aware of different types of cuisine and restaurants and whenever we travel together for work or have a lunch together, theres this tendency to talk about food and wine. And so I was a little bit intimidated by that. Gordon Ramsay, in 2012, featured the enterprise as part of the show Gordon Behind Bars. Yoon and Tatro earned college degrees taking rigorous courses taught by Bard College faculty in a maximum-security prison. And I will say this - when we started the project, sometimes people would say to us, oh, most people in prison will say that they're innocent and they didn't do the crime that they're there for. DAVIES: And the crime that got you in was that you shot someone in retaliation for an attack on you and your sister, right? Leath on "Born Behind Bars" Those interviewed in the video say Leath truly cared about the babies and their mothers in the nursery. Incarcerated People Can Do More than Beat Harvard in a Debate. And I started to respond with violence because I thought I had no other option. DAVIES: There was a time when higher education in correctional facilities was pretty common. A scholar who has taught in prison weighs in on 'College Behind Bars,' which airs Nov. 25 and 26 on PBS. Find standards-aligned teaching resources for What was that time like for you? oyster bay snow crab combo meat puckett's auto auction okc does tulane have a track. And I always remember, no, no, no. I remember telling my professor that, how can I complete an eight-page paper if I feel like I could complete it in only two? It was just a really, really moving moment to be celebrated on the main Bard campus in that way by all these amazing young people. This is FRESH AIR. We should not expect that they are only capable of vocational training. My mother left me and my siblings when I was 5, so my dad raised us three - my older brother and my sister - by himself. Since its first cohort in 2001, BPI students have earned over 52,000 credits and more than 550 Bard College degrees. I sit in there for about 30 minutes with my phone on the side playing music. NOVICK: Yeah, pretty much. Now he wants to help kids avoid prison. I'm Terry Gross. Add College Behind Bars to your must watch list! And I went to prison for 12 years at the age of 19, 20 for assault. I believe that me having committed a crime doesn't make me a bad person. And that's - Pell grants are supposed to be based on economic need. After the 94 Crime Bill, state lawmakers followed the federal lead and rescinded state-level tuition assistance programs. And what this education does is it untaps (ph) that potential. This movement took on renewed urgency following Congresss reinstatement of Pell Grant access to incarcerated students in 2020. 1. Were they all like that, Lynn? You are a prisoner and you are a student," Giovanni Hernandez tells Brut. I don't think I heard anybody use that as an excuse for committing crimes, though. TATRO: You know, this - I'm the first person in my family who's ever gone to college. Hold on. It gave me the ability to put names to systems and things that had impacted my life. I'm an uncle. The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. I just wanted acknowledgement and this feeling of power and security. YOON: My family has been super supportive of me, as you'll see in the documentary, especially my father. Few completed high school; most earned their GED in prison. I had to understand the idea of hubris, and I had to understand the idea of tragedy, and I had to understand these concepts. College Behind Bars | A Film by Lynn Novick | PBS All Episodes Now Streaming Men and women in prison for serious crimes try to earn college degrees in this groundbreaking story of. And it has had a profound impact on my personality and just the way that I move through the world today. A new PBS documentary series tells the story of one program that's offering a rigorous liberal arts education inside maximum security prisons with encouraging results. U.S. I recently binged born behind bars on A&E and was looking for any kind of update on these mamas/babies. Starbucks is a place where people dont notice each other; theyre more focused on their computer or their phone. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Our guests are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, two graduates of the program. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Learn more about this important amendment to the Merit Board rules, and its disproportionate impact on incarcerated women, on our blog. Our guests today are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and two graduates of the program, Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro. I mean, Dyjuan, I think you had a brother who had been - a younger brother who'd struggled and had been incarcerated at some point. DAVIES: You know, I'd like, Sebastian and Dyjuan, to hear a little bit about how - reconciling with your families. And it helped me understand my place in the world and activated me as a civically minded person. This can't just be watching movies and talking about it; you have to have a very sophisticated, demanding syllabus and assessments and writing assignments, and the students have to perform at the level that we expect for Bard College. Prisons across the country, collapsed a liberal arts education has made me a bad person a. 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