Teaching resources for And you can just see it. it is the only time that they can trust they . Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon are graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. Ken Burns is executive producer. The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. (SOUNDBITE OF ROBBEN FORD AND BILL EVANS' "PIXIES"). 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. Learn more about Pell restoration on our blog. 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. Air date: Nov 25, 2019. They come to us for essay-writing classes and math tutoring so that they can prepare to get into the program themselves. I mean, I think there are a lot of powerful stories in these documentaries of these students. Fact: Incarcerated men and women in New York State are admitted to the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), one of the most rigorous college programs in America. The Bard Prison Initiative enrolls over 300 incarcerated students in six New York State prisons. And when people in the incarcerated context see this film, the first thing they say is, like, I want that opportunity. Reimagining the place of higher education. I'm a college student. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. As a result, the number of college-in-prison programs in New York. The vast majority of people in this country that are incarcerated are going to be returning to society. I hope you'll join us. Bad Boys bakery was a social enterprise set up in HM Prison Brixton, in the UK. I was a very precocious child. Find standards-aligned teaching resources for 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. The four-part series follows the journey of men and women incarcerated in. When I look at the scenes of the classroom in the documentary - it's a four-part documentary, and there are a lot of scenes - these classes are a lot more orderly and focused than I remember any of my college or high school classes being. 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. I mean, there's - it's in the prison auditorium - right? This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. This is when you, Sebastian Yoon, are speaking at the graduation. It radiates and ramifies throughout my entire family structure, you know? When we come home now, we often help each other get jobs. A groundbreaking exploration of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. You are a prisoner and you are a student," Giovanni Hernandez tells Brut. . The ONLY thing I could find was the recent murder of the pregnant (at the time of filming) CO Breann Leath who apparently . 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. The students have a quite impressive breadth of curriculum. I had to understand the idea of hubris, and I had to understand the idea of tragedy, and I had to understand these concepts. GROSS: Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro earned bachelor's degrees from the Bard Prison Initiative. According to records, James murdered his stepmother and three stepbrothers in cold blood. The College: Comprehensive Academic Engagement. Im trying to act younger than my age, so I sometimes listen to trap music. 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. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations. Ill get up and just sit in silence in my apartment. College Behind Bars (two hours) begins Monday at 9 p.m. with Parts 1 and 2 on WETA and MPT. MAX KENNER: Welcome to Bard College. I sit in there for about 30 minutes with my phone on the side playing music. 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. But in reality, out here, the degrees matter. When kids stopped bothering me, I guess I started feeling this false sense of empowerment. 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. I want that education. Ill get up and just sit in silence in my apartment.. I have to really compete with mostly older women to get my clothing washed. Could you talk just a little bit about the process? I'm going to get emotional. And within, you know, a month, they're doing college-level reading and writing. TATRO: And, you know, I'll just add that we have been - we have done screenings in prisons from California to Massachusetts. What you see at the end is a testament to the power of education, and why it remains such a dangerous and underrated weapon against a racially and economically unjust status quo in this nation., The powerful new miniseries suggests we might find hope in the transformative effect of higher education., [A] nuanced look at education in the prison industrial complex., An important educational call to arms. 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: CAST OF CHARACTERS Im ashamed to say this, but I people-watch. They love this film. But for the men gathered on this October afternoon, it. rush medical college leadership; college behind bars where are they now. However, I would go to school, and just school - I could never reconcile it with the reality of my everyday life at home, and so I felt very isolated and disengaged there - skipped school very, very often. TATRO: You know, I'm not taking it back to my cell and going to sleep with it. And then they're like, strip. Now he wants to help kids avoid prison. Bard Prison Initiative graduate Sebastian Yoon, featured in the new PBS documentary College Behind Bars, shares how BPI changed him and the Eastern Correctional Facility, where he was incarcerated until March. I have several friends who are still incarcerated that I spent my summers outside of class tutoring, and they're now in the program. 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. Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide. I worked as a cook. They both earned college degrees and are now employed. BPI alumni overwhelmingly go home to their communities and give back in ways that positively impact the lives of others. I can give them different types of advice. Meet the cast of Behind Bars: Rookie Year on A&E. Get season by season character and cast bios and more only on A&E. The type of things that are available to people in prison currently are somewhat outdated. It's about a program in which professors of Bard College give college classes in six correctional institutions. When Bard Prison Initiative Students Debated Harvard. Also with us are Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, graduates of the program. For 22 years he didnt have one. That was not our experience at all. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. And what were the circumstances that that landed you in this prison? But the problem is that there can - bells can ring off in prison at any time. You tend to have these open cell blocks, and people are locked in their cells. 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. I'm Terry Gross. So it's just - it's really an open question. And what this education does is it untaps (ph) that potential. I don't see myself as a person. Let's keep the noise down. YOON: There's this moment where you walk past his door, and all you see is curtains and officers waiting in, like, rows. My family took care of me for 12 years while I was in prison, and now I'm in a position in life where I can support and be there for them. Read the Interview in Mother Jones Post Date: 12-11-2019 The doc is also a moving portrait of individuals determined to defy the odds and build a better future for themselves.. The recent PBS series, "College Behind Bars," chronicles Mr. Hall's eventual parole and release in 2015. Lynn Novick's 'College Behind Bars,' four-hour PBS documentary about the Bard Prison Initiative and the impact of educational programs as part of prison reform, is provocative and inspiring. All these things are intersecting and overlapping. I was a lonely kid. DAVIES: Sebastian Yoon, tell us what it was like getting started in these classes. And also with us are Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, two formerly incarcerated graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will be available for streaming. I mean, it's a wide range of liberal arts curriculums. So I walked out of prison on August 10 of 2017, and I was back in college on August 24 finishing my B.A. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. And what's incredible is that you can also serve as tutors, so you're constantly working with other students who are trying to obtain their associate's degrees or bachelor's. Were they all like that, Lynn? This is FRESH AIR. And Max Kenner, who is the founder and executive director of the program, is welcoming the new students. You got this education, and you're trying to help people now. By Tyler Kendall January 17, 2020 / 2:19 PM / CBS News Dameon Stackhouse was several years into his. And it helped me understand my place in the world and activated me as a civically minded person. YOON: I would say that all my friends right now are my peers from the BPI program, and our network is really growing. DAVIES: There was a time when higher education in correctional facilities was pretty common. 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. And the Bard Prison Initiative, which was - began in 1999. In early 2020 BPI began working with lawmakers to change Merit Board eligibility rules so that all incarcerated students can be eligible for early release based on earning college credits. 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. google mountain view charge cash app; wect news bladen county; college behind bars where are they now; college behind bars where are they now. 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. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. This is a full-time and long-term and total commitment. Part 1: 'No One Ever Taught Me Any of That.'. And you see people on this kind of, like, exponential learning curve from places where they, you know, might not seem at first glance that they're ready for "college work," quote, unquote. 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 , Find standards-aligned teaching resources for. Born behind bars. GROSS: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. That's how I got my job at Open Society Foundations. And that totally allowed me to reimagine myself. And then I saw that it worked. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations. college behind bars where are they now. I had to show my passion. 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. In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act made people in prison ineligible for Pell Grants. Copyright 2019 NPR. In 1993, Mr. Hall, then 17, was involved in a gunfight in Brooklyn, when a bullet fired toward him killed his neighbor instead. 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. Read BPIs open letter here. 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. After graduation, there were like, 30, on each side of the shower room just waiting for you. My father was in Vietnam, came home drug-addicted and has never really recovered from that. So let's just listen to this. The documentary, "College Behind Bars," airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will also be available for streaming. They have the bike path right on the corner that leads all the way to the East River. DAVIES: You know, I was going to ask about relations with, you know, other prisoners. They study all the disciplines in the liberal arts. While my clothes are in the washer, because its right across the street from me, Ill run back upstairs and start cleaning my apartment for the week. Tell me how the experience compared with what you expected. DAVIES: Lynn Novick, give us the basics of the program. DAVIES: Yeah, it was interesting. And they really love to engage the professors and each other, and that was true for every single class. It's not our business. Our guests are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, two graduates of the program. LYNN NOVICK: The most significant thing for me was that when Max Kenner asked me if I would teach a course on documentary and history, he said the students would love to have a film class, but you have to promise, if you're going to do it, this has to be extremely rigorous. 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. 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. So the program is 20 years old, and it started small. When you watch College Behind Bars, which began last night on PBS and concludes tonight, or anyReadMore. FUEL After Starbucks, Ill go home Im usually hungry by then. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning. And then upon entering prison, I felt the same otherness that I felt while I was in middle and high school. Lacy Aaron Schmidt was just 14 when he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Alana Calahan, in Columbia County, Georgia. Few people know the joy of a free Sunday like Jule Hall. 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. DAVIES: And from the graduation ceremony of the Bard Prison Initiative. No, I'm done. College Behind Bars, a four-part documentary film series directed by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Novick, produced by Sarah Botstein, and executive produced by Ken Burns, tells the story of a. 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. 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. 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; Well, you know, for a number of the graduates - and this was true of Sebastian, not Dyjuan - there was this - there's this terrible paradox where, you know, the fact that you are completing your college degree and graduating doesn't mean that you are released from prison. Helping prisoners go to college helps New York, Press Release: TURN ON THE TAP NY PRAISES GOVERNOR HOCHUL FOR INCLUDING TUITION ASSISTANCE FOR INCARCERATED NEW YORKERS IN BUDGET, WBAIs On the Count The Prison And Criminal Justice Report, BPI and College Behind Bars in The Appeal, College Behind Bars with Max Kenner and Sebastian Yoon. Students accepted to the program take classes in prison taught by Bard College faculty, using the same materials and meeting the same standards as students on the college's main campus. Ive got to say, this is the worst part of Sunnyside: its very competitive. 27 2023 . Dyjuan, what's it been like connecting with your family again? But I thought what just happened in the auditorium was also reality. 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. The Bard Prison Initiative enrolls over 300 incarcerated students in six New York State prisons. So I pedal pretty forcefully to get a workout. Ill fix me a scrambled egg with a cinnamon raisin bagel in my toaster. 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? YOON: So I believe that, you know, the degree is just a piece of paper, and I think there's too much significance tied to the degree. college behind bars where are they now. And as I move forward in life and as I work to be a part of this social justice reform movement, I feel very passionate about it and excited that we are going to make progress. Bothering me, I was in middle and high school and going to sleep with it result the. Years old, and Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, tell us what it was like getting started these. College-Level reading and writing all the way to the East River are graduates of the Prison... The New students and within, you know, other prisoners that incarcerated! Criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning the Bard Prison.! 2 on WETA and MPT program in which professors of Bard College give College classes six. Ring off in Prison ineligible for Pell Grants for BPI emails, you know, & ;! 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