If this kind of opportunity were widely available and the sort of foundational skills made possible, a lot more people could take advantage of it. Teaching resources for Leath on "Born Behind Bars" Those interviewed in the video say Leath truly cared about the babies and their mothers in the nursery. They contribute to their communities in all the ways one might expect of any college graduate. Thank you so much for speaking with us. And Max Kenner, who is the founder and executive director of the program, is welcoming the new students. And because the coffees so bad, we overcompensate with sugar or creamer. DAVIES: Sebastian Yoon, what about connecting with your family? For more information about ways to support the Bard Prison Initiative, please visit our Support page or contact bpidevelopment@bard.edu. So once that happened, almost all those programs vanished - went from about 800 programs to fewer than 10. SERIOUS READING I dont watch TV. It's always a seminar style. It took me six years to get from where I was to where Bard was. And so, you know, I think we always need to consider that we're not talking about people in prison getting a degree in isolation, you know? They love this film. Now he wants to help kids avoid prison. 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. College Behind Bars is perhaps one of the best documentaries that Ive seen about criminal justice in the past 5 years. And you can just see it. The doc is also a moving portrait of individuals determined to defy the odds and build a better future for themselves.. Dyjuan, you want to share something? But as we got to know the students, we began to understand the circumstances of their lives, which, as you say, were complicated, sometimes tragic, often involved exposure to violence and other tragic experiences. For the NFLs My Cause My Cleats campaign, Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins explains why he chose to highlight the College Behind Bars prison reform initiative. 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. Did you feel yourself changing as you moved through these courses? The series College Behind Bars aired on PBS on November 25 and 26 and is now available for free streaming on PBS.org through the end of January. But the problem is that there can - bells can ring off in prison at any time. Others that have to do, you know, kind of routine prison jobs instead of being in class - was there jealousy or resentment? Part 2: 'I'm Trying to Get Home to My Family, Too.'. Born behind bars. 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. Yoon and Tatro both entered prison as teenagers, and both earned bachelor's degrees in the Bard Prison Initiative. The PBSand Emmy-nominated documentary "College Behind Bars" seeks to showcase the students of BPI as well as the need for more prison college programs throughout the country. There's an extreme amount of noise in prisons. "College Behind Bars" follows students in the Bard Prison Initiative, a privately funded college program that began in 2001 in New York state prisons. BPI alumni overwhelmingly go home to their communities and give back in ways that positively impact the lives of others. And what the film shows and the work at BPI shows is that that cannot be more untrue. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. College Behind Bars, a four-part documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Novick takes you on an intimate journey of a dozen BPI students who are earning their college degrees while incarcerated. Factory jobs are disappearing in this country year after year. Get the latest news about BPI and our work. The BPI student body mirrors that of the prison system at large: students come from communities with the fewest quality educational opportunities that are most impacted by crises of hyper-policing and mass incarceration. TATRO: They are like, congratulations. And it helped me understand my place in the world and activated me as a civically minded person. They worked with former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, whose dossier was leaked and published. NOVICK: I'd just add that one of the really remarkable things about this program is that the admissions process is looking for people who have kind of intellectual curiosity and determination. I always thought that my logic and my feelings trumped others - no pun intended. DAVIES: You know, getting a liberal arts education is - it is a lot of work, and it expands one's horizons in a whole lot of ways. And I was bullied a lot. They have both been to prison. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning. fevereiro 17, 2023; Posted by nene leakes father alan; 17 . Men and women seek college degrees - and a chance at redemption - while incarcerated. And, you know, we came to feel that it was important for them to - and they also felt it was important for them to explain themselves, how they see themselves, where they've been, where they are, through the lens of the education that they've been getting and their perspectives that have shifted over time. Both are featured in the PBS documentary series College Behind Bars. - with, you know, caps and gowns and photos and parents in the audience. DAVIES: Sebastian Yoon, tell us what it was like getting started in these classes. And then you address your father directly. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The recent PBS series, College Behind Bars, chronicles Mr. Halls eventual parole and release in 2015. The four-part series follows the journey of men and women incarcerated in. It adds stability. Dyjuan, what's it been like connecting with your family again? DAVIES: You know, some might think that prison inmates would have an easier time focusing on all this rigorous schoolwork because they're literally, you know, captive in the institution and are not distracted by parties or dating or football games like, you know, students on a traditional campus. rush medical college leadership; college behind bars where are they now. It's about a program in which professors of Bard College give college classes in six correctional institutions. 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; DAVIES: Wow. Also with us is the director of the documentary, Lynn Novick. Prison is not an easy place to get an education. They spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. And I think what surprised my father the most was just how much I transformed while I was incarcerated. I mean, both - from the documentary, it seems that both of you had supportive families. College Behind Bars is an intimate look at the lives and experiences of a dozen BPI students and their families that confronts . Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon are graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. In spring 2021 the NYS legislature passed the bill, and it was signed into law in July 2021. I'm Terry Gross. Starbucks is a place where people dont notice each other; theyre more focused on their computer or their phone. With so much at stake, BPI is doubling down on our commitments to national engagement in policy and practice including The BPI Summer Residency for emerging programs and practitioners. I mean, you both entered prison as teenagers, right? TATRO: And, you know, I'll just add that we have been - we have done screenings in prisons from California to Massachusetts. . They become the support system that we need to rely on. But in reality, out here, the degrees matter. I just committed a bad act. I had to write that I swept and mopped floors. They both earned college degrees and are now employed. So the program is 20 years old, and it started small. 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. And I kind of froze in place and just looked around the room and just felt really, really inspired. In August 2022, BPI joined colleagues across the field in issuing public comments in response to the Department of Educations proposed regulatory language. And then upon entering prison, I felt the same otherness that I felt while I was in middle and high school. I was a lonely kid. One of the toughest parts of living in Sunnyside, Mr. Hall said, is finding a vacant laundry machine. Colleges or universities partnering in the Consortium. 56 views, 2 likes, 3 loves, 4 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from New&Living Way Gospel Temple: Sunday service They spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. 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. What I prize is the education and the knowledge that I received in the process of obtaining that degree. And when people in the incarcerated context see this film, the first thing they say is, like, I want that opportunity. Incarcerated men and women are admitted to the Bard Prison Initiative, a rigorous college program, where some make great strides while others . So I pedal pretty forcefully to get a workout. 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. I finished my degree in the spring of 2018. 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. So there are a lot of things that impede your education in that space. Sometimes, it could take six hours. Incarcerated People Can Do More than Beat Harvard in a Debate. 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. I'm an uncle. 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. DAVIES: You know, this is tough material in these classes. After serving 22 years in prison, he is making up for lost time, with a job at the Ford Foundation, good coffee and a long soak in the tub. : r/loveafterlockup. 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. So I was charged at the age of 16 for manslaughter in the first degree, and I was sentenced to 15 years. Even after you graduate, as long as you are in a prison in which Bard Prison Initiative operates, you're allowed to take courses. No, I'm done. 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. The vast majority of people in this country that are incarcerated are going to be returning to society. DAVIES: Yeah. And that moment when that letter came forever altered the trajectory of my life. 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. I wake up every morning and I realize Im free and Im just so grateful to be here.. While I have little tastes for things, I dont make an elaborate breakfast. There are bells. DAVIES: You know, I'd like, Sebastian and Dyjuan, to hear a little bit about how - reconciling with your families. So I grew up in Flushing, Queens. BPI was founded in 1999, in the wake of the decimation of college-in-prison. When kids stopped bothering me, I guess I started feeling this false sense of empowerment. 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. There in school I had my first experience with racism and discrimination because I was one of a handful of Asian students. When that door closes, you're at Bard College. For streaming, visit pbs.org . In four years of study they become accomplished scholars, shatter stereotypes, reckon with their pasts, and prepare to return to society. Bad Boys bakery was a social enterprise set up in HM Prison Brixton, in the UK. DAVIES: Yeah, it was interesting. NOVICK: You know, Sarah and I, when we got into the project, we were focusing on the transformational aspect of it, power of education, and what did it mean to get this education while in prison? You got this education, and you're trying to help people now. (Speaking Korean) Thank you. And when I actually started my courses, I was shocked by how rigorous and how demanding the program was. Neither had been in a maximum security . And you see this room, and then all of a sudden, reality just comes crashing upon you. But I'm wondering, was there a point at which it just seemed hard to adjust? We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. Funding provided by Bank of America, Ford Foundation / JustFilms, National Endowment for the Humanities, Meg & Tomas Bergstrand, Regina K. Scully, The Lise Strickler & Mark Gallogly Charitable Fund, a fund at The New York Community Trust, Patty Quillin through the Meadow Fund at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Barbara & Richard Novick, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The William H. Donner Foundation, Hartley Film Foundation, Bertha Foundation, The Harnisch Foundation, Compton Foundation, and Lisa Philp.And members of The Better Angels Society: John & Catherine Debs, The Cousins Foundation, Inc., Abrams Foundation, Schwartz/Reisman Foundation, Ted Dintersmith & Elizabeth Hazard, McCloskey Family Charitable Trust, and Donna & Dick Strong. And I wondered - I couldn't help but wonder when I went - when I submitted this application, would they see this and give me a chance for an interview had I not been able to write that I received a Bard bachelor's degree? A groundbreaking exploration of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. And I'm back at BPI today as the Government Affairs Officer, expanding - helping to expand access to college and prison through public investments in the work that we do. 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. Siena Poll Today Showed Huge, Bipartisan Majorities For Programs That Lower Barriers to Incarcerated New Yorkers Re-Entering Society (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. So, to savor this rich, hot drink in my hand is so fabulous with cinnamon, not too much sugar. Hold on. Were they all like that, Lynn? For now, the roughly 300 students taking . James Wiley committed a heinous crime at 15 years of age. You know, I'm a brother. Meg & Tomas Bergstrand; Regina K. Scully; The Lise Strickler & Mark Gallogly Charitable Fund; a fund at The New York Community Trust; Patty Quillin through the Meadow Fund at Silicon Valley Community Foundation; Barbara & Richard Novick; Chicken & Egg Pictures; The William H. Donner Foundation; Hartley Film Foundation; Bertha Foundation; The Harnisch Foundation; Compton Foundation; and Lisa Philp; and members of The Better Angels Society: So it totally enthralled me and motivated me to go after this education with pure zeal. YOON: There's this moment where you walk past his door, and all you see is curtains and officers waiting in, like, rows. I'm Terry Gross. So it's just - it's really an open question. And he said - he says to me, you stood up. They've earned college degrees and are now employed. And then this changed in the . That kind of thing. I mean, it's a wide range of liberal arts curriculums. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will be available for streaming. DAVIES: Yeah. And they thrust you right back into prison. YOON: And it was a very interesting moment for me where I realized that the education that I was receiving in prison was the same education that I would receive had I gone to college out there. And in the context of the '90s and the tough-on-crime rhetoric and the super predator kind of, you know, demonization of people who have been convicted of crimes, as part of the Clinton crime bill, there was an amendment to withdraw eligibility for Pell grants for people who were in prison. (SOUNDBITE OF ROBBEN FORD AND BILL EVANS' "PIXIES"). Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide. GROSS: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. In 1993, Mr. Hall, then 17, was involved in a gunfight in Brooklyn, when a bullet fired toward him killed his neighbor instead.