It adds stability. YOON: For me, a liberal arts education cultivated in me conceptual and intellectual openness that invited me to consider worlds outside of my world from different times, thought and space. 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. DAVIES: You know, this is tough material in these classes. And what this education does is it untaps (ph) that potential. College Behind Bars is an intimate look at the lives and experiences of a dozen BPI students and their families that confronts and challenges conventional wisdom about the purpose of both education and incarceration. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. Your education in that space can be interrupted in all types of different ways at any time of day. What Happens When Incarcerated People Get a World-Class Education? For streaming, visit pbs.org . As you will see in the film, there's tremendous potential among incarcerated people. And, you know, they're like, strip. The ONLY thing I could find was the recent murder of the pregnant (at the time of filming) CO Breann Leath who apparently . This movement took on renewed urgency following Congresss reinstatement of Pell Grant access to incarcerated students in 2020. For 22 years he didnt have one. We're in the business of education. In the beginning, you don't even know how to use a comma. Lynn Novick, Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, welcome to FRESH AIR. And then you say, oh, this is my reality. 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. Learn more about this important amendment to the Merit Board rules, and its disproportionate impact on incarcerated women, on our blog. The documentary, "College Behind Bars," airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will also be available for streaming. While Rodney and Sebastian complete their 100-page senior projects and present them to fac, Men and women in prison for serious crimes try to earn college degrees in this groundbreaking story of incarceration, inju, When incarcerated students from the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) Debate Union beat a team from Harvard, their victory made. Ill get up and just sit in silence in my apartment.. DAVIES: Sebastian Yoon, what about connecting with your family? They love this film. More than 2 million Americans are incarcerated today, and many are looking for alternatives to prison and ways to help offenders rebuild their lives. Having myself attended college while incarcerated, I can attest to the importance of theReadMore, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2022 Starbucks is a place where people dont notice each other; theyre more focused on their computer or their phone. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. DAVIES: There was a time when higher education in correctional facilities was pretty common. So I walked out of prison on August 10 of 2017, and I was back in college on August 24 finishing my B.A. Read the Interview in Mother Jones Post Date: 12-11-2019 how to remove headrest chrysler 200; super license points tracker 2022; did bette davis play the piano in deception; fiat ducato motorhome for sale on ebay; where is curly bill buried You know, I am originally from Albany, N.Y. Are children allowed in Turkish prisons? The journey to bring "College Behind Bars" started in 2012, when Novick and producer Sarah Botstein were invited to give a lecture for BPI students. Dyjuan, what's it been like connecting with your family again? Prison is not an easy place to get an education. Once enrolled, BPI students engage with the college full-time, embarking on a course of study that is ambitious and matches the breadth and intensity of any undergraduate learning experience. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will be available for streaming. I'm a math major, went on after that to do some project management and data collection for a tech company and then started thinking about how I could get back in the world. I finished my degree in the spring of 2018. We will continue our conversation after a short break. That means that 50% to 60% of the 630,000 people who get out of prison every year are back in prison in three years. It's two different systems, right? Since 2001, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within Americas prison systems. Shot over four years in maximum and medium security prisons in New York State, the four-hour film takes viewers on a stark and intimate journey into one of the most pressing issues of our time our failure to provide meaningful rehabilitation for the over two million Americans living behind bars. Ken Burns is executive producer. And I remember walking in and seeing men like me in prison uniforms, except that they were speaking Mandarin. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations. 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. I'm not going to wear that. And then this changed in the '90s when we had the crime bill, right? These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning. 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. I mean, anybody who watches this film will think, gosh, I don't know if I could handle this stuff. 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? I mean, you both entered prison as teenagers, right? Through the lived experiences of the students and their families, this is a groundbreaking story of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. And I started to respond with violence because I thought I had no other option. In 2016, BPI was proud to join the first cohort of sites receiving experimental eligibility through Second Chance Pell. And then I saw that it worked. They love the Bard Prison Initiative. Shot over four years in maximum and medium security prisons in New York State, the four-hour film takes viewers on a stark and intimate journey into one of the most pressing issues of our time our failure to provide meaningful rehabilitation for the over two million Americans living behind bars. college behind bars where are they now. College Behind Bars, which airs on PBS Monday and Tuesday night, offers TV audiences a rare window into the U.S. correctional system. Were they all like that, Lynn? Rodney, Sebastian and Giovannie embark on yearlong senior, The debate union faces Harvard. But one of the things that was also great - there are instances where the other prisoners would accommodate us, where they would say, you know, the Bard guys are working at this table; let's go over here and make noise, or, like, the Bard guys are in the room - in their rooms studying. And Max Kenner, who is the founder and executive director of the program, is welcoming the new students. We see him, don't we? GROSS: Lynn Novick speaking with Dave Davies. He lives alone in an apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, which he chose for its proximity to the foundation, just across the East River. And I think what surprised my father the most was just how much I transformed while I was incarcerated. Turkish prisons do not have a specific policy regarding children, but in general, they are not allowed in prison. After the 94 Crime Bill, state lawmakers followed the federal lead and rescinded state-level tuition assistance programs. Jule Hall walks through Sunnyside, Queens, his neighborhood. NOVICK: And I think - just to put the button or the final note is that the recidivism rates for the general population are between 50% and 60%. And it has had a profound impact on my personality and just the way that I move through the world today. Use one of the services below to sign in to PBS: You've just tried to add this video to My List. TATRO: Yeah. And within, you know, a month, they're doing college-level reading and writing. And she said, well, welcome to college. So it totally enthralled me and motivated me to go after this education with pure zeal. So I know when I was in college and I was reading Greek tragedy or Shakespeare or, you know, classic texts, it was just an assignment to me. How Jule Hall, Graduate of the Bard Prison Initiative, Spends His Sundays, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/nyregion/jule-hall-college-behind-bars-pbs.html. Colleges or universities partnering in the Consortium. Bad Boys bakery was a social enterprise set up in HM Prison Brixton, in the UK. And, you know, spending time in the classrooms - as Sarah Botstein, the producer, and I did - I kept thinking, I wish I could go back to college and have this experience because it is - the classes are small. Otherwise, you're not doing them any favors. When Bard Prison Initiative Students Debated Harvard. it is the only time that they can trust they . Men and women earn college degrees - and a chance at new beginnings - while incarcerated.MoreMore. We will continue our conversation after this short break. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. All Rights Reserved. And one day, we went to a karaoke bar, and a fight erupted, and somebody ended up losing his life. And, you know, one of the just greatest moments there is that when the BPI students were getting up to walk the stage, the president of the college, Leon Botstein, said - you know, he said these are some of our most distinguished and greatest students, and the whole student body stood and gave us a resounding round of applause. This is not me. Part of our job is to provide grants and support to other organizations and individuals who are working towards social justice reform. And what were the circumstances that that landed you in this prison? What was that time like for you? You know, I'm a brother. 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. Sometimes, it could take six hours. They spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. A groundbreaking exploration of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. NOVICK: I was just going to chime in one other thing, which is I've heard Dyjuan, Sebastian and the other students, as well as Max, say that, you know, it also just sort of changes the culture of the whole facility and that, you know, there's something positive going on and that people don't want to get in trouble so that they have an opportunity to be there, to stay there and to potentially be involved in the program. That kind of thing. By Tyler Kendall January 17, 2020 / 2:19 PM / CBS News Dameon Stackhouse was several years into his. How can we have justice without redemption? 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. Adjust the colors to reduce glare and give your eyes a break. The majority were first arrested as minors. Its always with me, said Mr. Hall, 44, of prison. Prison has the worst coffee, oh, my goodness thats one of the things I think anybody would tell you. I go to bed around 9 or 10. That was not our experience at all. I mean, I think there are a lot of powerful stories in these documentaries of these students. So you can be in class midway, and if the bell rings because the count was off or if there's a security problem, then you have to go back to your cells. Virtually none return to prison. So how long does this take? College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. Faculty are going to be evaluating what you do as a student, exclusively. They come to us for essay-writing classes and math tutoring so that they can prepare to get into the program themselves. 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. Copyright 2023 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), all rights reserved. You can learn the math skills you need pretty quickly if you're motivated. 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. And the Bard Prison Initiative, which was - began in 1999. I'm just interested in your perspective on this because I'm just - I imagine that, in a maximum security facility, there are a lot of folks who just didn't have kind of the educational kind of foundation to do college work the way you did, or maybe I'm wrong about that. But I'm wondering, was there a point at which it just seemed hard to adjust? And that's - Pell grants are supposed to be based on economic need. Through the personal stories of the students and their families, the film reveals the transformative power of higher education and puts a human face on Americas criminal justice crisis. Mr. Hall is the first formerly incarcerated person to be hired full-time by the Ford. YOON: Oh, yeah, without a doubt. So within the prison context, you know, people know who the guys are in BPI, and they come to us for advice. You know, I would go in and do all the work in a day or two, and the expectations were really, really low. With Botstein onboard as a producer, Novick set out to direct what became the four-part PBS docuseries "College Behind Bars." Executive produced by Burns, the documentary examines mass. I wake up every morning and I realize Im free and Im just so grateful to be here.. Ill take care of the preliminaries, brush my teeth, get dressed, and I shoot straight to the Starbucks two blocks away. And I'm wondering - I'm going to ask Sebastian. FUEL After Starbucks, Ill go home Im usually hungry by then. Since its first cohort in 2001, BPI students have earned over 52,000 credits and more than 550 Bard College degrees. And I just want to - after the euphoria of graduation, I mean, you certainly - you know, you had this terrific asset, this college degree that a lot of ex-offenders don't. I hope you'll join us. DAVIES: Yeah, it was interesting. Anyone can read what you share. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act made people in prison ineligible for Pell Grants. . They were doing advanced mathematics, math without numbers on the board. You can just see this intellectual blossoming. We will hear Sebastian Yoon first and then we'll hear Dyjuan Tatro. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). You are a prisoner and you are a student," Giovanni Hernandez tells Brut. And there was a tremendous void. It gave me the ability to put names to systems and things that had impacted my life. And it's just really, really - has been so emotional for me to see their reaction and have their support through all this and be able to share so much positivity with them after having gone through so much darkness in life. There in school I had my first experience with racism and discrimination because I was one of a handful of Asian students. DAVIES: Dyjuan Tatro, what was your graduation experience like? And because the coffees so bad, we overcompensate with sugar or creamer. DAVIES: Wow, that's really remarkable. TATRO: And, you know, I'll just add that we have been - we have done screenings in prisons from California to Massachusetts. So it's just - it's really an open question. You know, Lynn Novick, I believe this project grew out of your own experience teaching a course, right? One of the toughest parts of living in Sunnyside, Mr. Hall said, is finding a vacant laundry machine. For 26 years, BPI joined other advocates in championing the return of Pell eligibility for incarcerated students. MAX KENNER: Welcome to Bard College. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. My life to higher learning be based on economic need is finding a vacant laundry machine of 2017, I... Time of day Tuesday night, offers TV audiences a rare window into U.S.. Profound impact on my personality and just sit in silence in my... 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