Bard Prison Initiative

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The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) is a program of Bard College that provides college education to people in prison. Currently operating in six prisons across New York State, BPI's academic programs engage students in the full breadth of liberal study and end in associate and bachelor's degrees from Bard. It currently enrolls 350 students full-time in liberal arts programs.[1] BPI first started making the news when its debate team won against Harvard University in 2015.[2] Since federal funding for prison education programs was eliminated in 1995,[3] BPI is one of a limited number of college degree granting programs available in U.S. prisons.[1][4]

BPI works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America.

Since 2001, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within America's prison systems. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning. As of 2020, BPI enrolls over 300 incarcerated students full-time in programs that culminate in degrees from Bard College; it offers extensive support for its alumni in and around New York City; and, it has developed a nationwide network of leading universities and colleges to catalyze a transformation in the relationship between education and criminal justice in the United States. BPI's newest initiative, the Bard Microcollege, expands yet further the scope and impact of this work, delivering high-quality liberal arts education to isolated communities outside of prison through partnerships with community-based institutions.

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 crime and incarceration. The majority were first arrested as children. Few completed high school; most earned their GED in prison. 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. After returning home, BPI alumni become independent taxpaying citizens. They work in business, the arts, and media; they attend graduate school; they have careers in the human services. Virtually none return to prison. They contribute to their communities in all the ways one might expect of any college graduates.

BPI is also the home of the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, which recruits, assists, and collaborates with colleges and universities across the country as they enter this field of work and reestablish college opportunity for people in prison in their home states.[5]

BPI is the subject of College Behind Bars, a 2019 documentary executive produced by Ken Burns.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Bard Prison Initiative". Bard Prison Initiative website. Archived from the original on 29 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  2. ^ "College Classes In Maximum Security: 'It Gives You Meaning'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  3. ^ "Maximum Security Education". 60 Minutes. 2007-04-15. CBS. Transcript.
  4. ^ "National Directory of Higher Education Programs in Prison". Prison Studies Project. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
  5. ^ "National Projects". Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  6. ^ Carlisle, Madeleine (26 November 2019). "'This Is a Story of Hope.' New Documentary Series College Behind Bars Follows Men and Women Working to Gain College Degrees While in Prison". Time. Retrieved 29 November 2019.

External links[]


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