And I said, that's what I'm going to do, and I was in a different facility at that time - easier said than done. Max Kenner, when he started it, was an undergraduate at Bard and just saw this need and, you know, convinced the college that it would be something that they should try to do. Funding for College Behind Bars is provided by Bank of America; PBS; Ford Foundation / JustFilms; National Endowment for the Humanities; Meg & Tomas Bergstrand; Regina K. Scully; The Lise More, Funding for College Behind Bars is provided by Bank of America; PBS; Ford Foundation / JustFilms; National Endowment for the Humanities; Born Behind Bars is a documentary series that takes place in a maximum-security prison in Indiana. And then upon entering prison, I felt the same otherness that I felt while I was in middle and high school. For more information about ways to support the Bard Prison Initiative, please visit our Support page or contact bpidevelopment@bard.edu. My family loves Bard College. The majority were first arrested as minors. college behind bars where are they now college behind bars where are they now. Ill get up and just sit in silence in my apartment.. I was - I had to show them that I was smart enough to be part of this group. And the Bard Prison Initiative has had 600 graduates be released over the last 20 years. it is the only time that they can trust they . WebCollege Behind Bars, which airs on PBS Monday and Tuesday night, offers TV audiences a rare window into the U.S. correctional system. Kind of how large are the classes? And then you address your father directly. They love this film. Tune in for an unparalleled look inside @BPIBard, one of the most rigorous & challenging #CollegeInPrison programs. I had to show my passion. college behind bars where are they now. And then this changed in the '90s when we had the crime bill, right? 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. You know, one of the great things about being in BPI and one of the great things about this education happening in the educational space is that it really, really motivates people to be the best selves and to go on after this opportunity. Fact: Part of our job is to provide grants and support to other organizations and individuals who are working towards social justice reform. I'm not going to wear that. Born behind bars. 56 views, 2 likes, 3 loves, 4 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from New&Living Way Gospel Temple: Sunday service TURN ON THE TAP NY PRAISES GOVERNOR HOCHUL FOR INCLUDING TUITION ASSISTANCE FOR INCARCERATED NEW YORKERS IN BUDGET TATRO: Having a liberal arts education has made me a much deeper thinker. Part 2: 'I'm Trying to Get Home to My Family, Too.'. Now he wants to help kids avoid prison. The vast majority of people in this country that are incarcerated are going to be returning to society. Our guests are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, two graduates of the program. All Rights Reserved. Everyone that we got to know well took full responsibility for what happened and explained the context in which it happened and how they are reckoning with it today. Of course, I recognize where this comes from: I wasnt around children for 22 years. They study all the disciplines in the liberal arts. What Happens When Incarcerated People Get a World-Class Education? After a break, they'll talk about getting their degrees, leaving prison and rejoining their families and how they think a liberal arts education changed them. I'm a son. Let's listen. Who among us is capable of academic excellence? Theres Filipino food, theres Indian cuisine, theres Turkish cuisine, theres Asian food, theres Greek restaurants, theres a diversity. And school was just really too easy. What kind of courses are taught? You know, I am originally from Albany, N.Y. This movement took on renewed urgency following Congresss reinstatement of Pell Grant access to incarcerated students in 2020. COLLEGE BEHIND BARS, a four-part documentary film series, tells the story of a small group of incarcerated men and women struggling to earn college degrees and turn their lives around in one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the United States - the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI). DAVIES: Yeah, this business of counts - I mean, Sebastian Yoon, do you want to explain this? And so the film ends up and their stories end up, you know, raising some really important questions about violence and about harm and incarceration, and what is prison for, and what is the value of education? I'm Terry Gross. 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. We, you know, without quite realizing at the beginning, have ended up exploring this really deep question. You are a prisoner and you are a student," Giovanni Hernandez tells Brut. YOON: My fellow graduates, my friends, let me remind you that we have an obligation to share our stories and to uphold the idea that if we wish to have a better world, as we all do, then we must first change ourselves. And there's - I'll just let the listeners know there's an emotional moment here where you start to speak of your family, and you have to stop and compose yourself. Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide. I go to bed around 9 or 10. You can learn the math skills you need pretty quickly if you're motivated. Air date: Nov 25, 2019. I know it's not love after lockup but I couldn't really find a relevant sub. 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. BPI was proud to partner with College and Community Fellowships #TurnOnTheTapNY campaign to restore access to New Yorks state-level need-based student grants, the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) for incarcerated students. This film is about the transformative power of education while also confronting and challenging conventional thinking about the purpose of both education and incarceration. Back in 2018, Netflix released its docuseries Girls Incarcerated: Young and Locked Up . So currently, I work as a program specialist with the Democracy Fund of Open Society Foundations, which is one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the world. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. When you watch College Behind Bars, which began last night on PBS and concludes tonight, or anyReadMore. I mean, I think, you know, having taught in the program myself, you walk into class, and the students are there. I have to read a lot for work, so whether its grants or theory-related and I mean, its great reading, but its not like Walter Mosley or some of those things I became fond of. By creating an account, you acknowledge that PBS may share your information with our member stations and our respective service providers, and that you have read and understand the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. They were doing advanced mathematics, math without numbers on the board. Director Lynn Novick and graduates Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro talk about how the program changes lives. BPI alumni overwhelmingly go home to their communities and give back in ways that positively impact the lives of others. And then they're like, strip. NOVICK: Yeah. Faculty are going to be evaluating what you do as a student, exclusively. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. DAVIES: Yeah. YOON: There's this moment where you walk past his door, and all you see is curtains and officers waiting in, like, rows. And they really love to engage the professors and each other, and that was true for every single class. The Bard Prison Initiative enrolls over 300 incarcerated students in six New York State prisons. How much noise is there, and does that make it hard to read, Dyjuan? One of the things I used to do is kind of put my headphones on with classical music, and that's how I would get my reading and get my work done. And I started to respond with violence because I thought I had no other option. So I grew up in Flushing, Queens. I'm a college student. - and wait until you get the all clear? I was in a poor, disadvantaged community, and I ended up at a very young age in gangs. And that's - Pell grants are supposed to be based on economic need. College Behind Bars is the inspiring, emotional, and deeply human story of men and women struggling to earn college degrees while in prison for serious crimes. DAVIES: Sebastian Yoon, tell us what it was like getting started in these classes. More than 2 million Americans are incarcerated today, and many are looking for alternatives to prison and ways to help offenders rebuild their lives. There's a lot of interaction with the students, with the professor and with each other, and a tremendous amount learning also goes on outside the classroom. DAVIES: You know, I'd like, Sebastian and Dyjuan, to hear a little bit about how - reconciling with your families. Mostly I stop at Queensbridge Park, but there are times when I ride the bike lane all the way to the end of Astoria. For streaming, visit pbs.org . And fewer than 4% have gone back to prison. WASHER WARS After that, I will follow that bike lane back home and do my laundry. We will continue our conversation after a short break. LAVENDER AND TRAP I will either boil water or run a bathtub because on Sundays, I love to take a hot bath, with lavender Epsom salts. They have the bike path right on the corner that leads all the way to the East River. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). There's an extreme amount of noise in 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 . TATRO: Oh, I think that couldn't be further from the truth. You can see then Minister. YOON: I would say that all my friends right now are my peers from the BPI program, and our network is really growing. And with time, as we become scholars, the idea that we should be limited to just vocational training just becomes absurd. But I needed that degree in order to get my first interview, and then I went to four more interviews after that where I was able to prove myself through speech. And I was bullied a lot. 80% are BIPOC. 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. This is a scene where there's a group of brand-new students at the Eastern Correctional Facility, which is a maximum security facility in New York, just been admitted to the program after a competitive admissions process, and what we see is a not terribly large classroom and a group of 15 to 20 men in blue jumpsuits seated at typical classroom desks. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. This July we saw a major legislative victory in New York, spearheaded by BPI alumni. And one of the things that I saw as I watched the four episodes - and this reminded me of - I taught middle school and high school many, many years ago. Confronted with the inhuman monotony of life behind bars, Mr. Hall became a serious student, ultimately gaining admission to the Bard Prison Initiative, a competitive, full-time degree program run by Bard College. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Factory jobs are disappearing in this country year after year. As a result, the number of college-in-prison programs in New York fell from over 70 to 4. Incarcerated People Can Do More than Beat Harvard in a Debate. In the fall of 2015, a maximum-security prison in New York invited Harvards debate team to compete against a squad of three incarcerated men. Men and women earn college degrees - and a chance at new beginnings - while incarcerated.MoreMore. So we really take the opportunity that we had seriously and try to give back in real, tangible ways to the wider population. By Jamil Smith And that's not to say that it's not challenging, but that is to point to the fact that, if we support people transitioning back in society in the right way, they'd be capable of almost anything, you know? On November 24, 1990, James Wiley armed himself with a shotgun and brutally shot down his stepmother and two brothers in their home in Thermopolis, Wyoming. College Behind Bars, the four-part documentary about the transformative power of education, premiered nationwide on PBS in November 25, 2019. It's two different systems, right? Mr. Hall is the first formerly incarcerated person to be hired full-time by the Ford. I mean, I think there are a lot of powerful stories in these documentaries of these students. I mean, it's a wide range of liberal arts curriculums. For 22 years he didnt have one. Parts 3 and 4 air Tuesday. And I got there, and I took the entrance exam and sat in my cell and waited for the acceptance letter. Let's keep the noise down. And I remember walking in and seeing men like me in prison uniforms, except that they were speaking Mandarin. That is to say, the college has no interest in the nature of your criminal conviction, the length of your sentence, how much time you have left in prison. Dyjuan, you want to share something? Now that Im thinking about it: more often than not, Im recognizing that the Twin Towers is not part of that skyline anymore. And today, there are 300 students in six facilities in New York state, mostly men, but there's one facility for women as well. fevereiro 17, 2023; Posted by nene leakes father alan; 17 . Your support helps make this possible. TATRO: By the way, you know, the recent research shows that for every dollar a state invests in college and prison, it saves $4 to $5 in re-incarceration costs. Your education in that space can be interrupted in all types of different ways at any time of day. YOON: Two more years after my bachelor's degree in 2017. 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. TATRO: You know, one of the great things about, you know, Bard is that it's recognized that it's not enough just to, you know, kind of issue a degree and give someone an education, send them back out into society. Your purchase supports PBS and helps make our programming possible. And within, you know, a month, they're doing college-level reading and writing. You know, what's striking about this program is that - I think a lot of people who think about ways that prisons can help incarcerated people get jobs when they get out of prison is to provide vocational training - you know, teach people to be welders or auto mechanics or, you know, stuff like that. They were speaking Mandarin entrance exam and sat in my apartment was enough... 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