And one day, we went to a karaoke bar, and a fight erupted, and somebody ended up losing his life. The new PBS documentary College Behind Bars follows the students of the Bard Prison Initiative, a full-time, degree-granting program in six New York prisons. 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. 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. The recent PBS series, College Behind Bars , chronicles Mr. Halls eventual parole and release in 2015. 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 I started to respond with violence because I thought I had no other option. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. GROSS: Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, our guests will be Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, the former Wall Street Journal reporters who formed Fusion GPS, a private research company. YOON: Sometimes, it takes 40 minutes. 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. Therefore, from what we can tell, she now lives a sober life in Crawfordsville, Indiana, alongside her partner and son Marshall Craig Roche who was born in the summer of 2019. DAVIES: Yeah. That's how I got my job at Open Society Foundations. You know, you forgot your book; you can't just go back and get your book. 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. They spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. The four-part series premieres on PBS over two nights -- Nov. 25 & 26. I have watched them leave prison and have to struggle in ways that I have not because I have had the privilege of a college education. ET on PBS. I always thought that my logic and my feelings trumped others - no pun intended. And I kind of froze in place and just looked around the room and just felt really, really inspired. This is the thing we know how to do, and we happen to do it here. HAPPENING NOW: Tennessee Republicans are voting to expel Democratic lawmakers over anti-gun violence protests. There are counts. And I am the most proud father in the world. And then they're like, strip. I wish you continued success. And I think - I was lonely. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). DAVIES: You know, I was going to ask about relations with, you know, other prisoners. Zarriah moved in with her godmother upon leaving prison and began rebuilding a relationship with her estranged mother. Therefore, from what we can tell, she now lives a sober life in Crawfordsville, Indiana, alongside her partner and son Marshall Craig Roche who was born in the summer of 2019. And it was often a joke that I would show up at school and get all these awards, and they would say, but you were never here. YOON: My family has been super supportive of me, as you'll see in the documentary, especially my father. Carisa was then arrested on a domestic battery charge in November 2019, with a $600 bond, yet it seemingly went nowhere. And this is not obviously the happiest part of your life, but - and you can say as much as you want about it, but I think the audience would be interested in knowing a bit about what your life was like coming up. I never saw a class where people weren't paying attention - not one - and we were in a lot of classes. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. I'm going to ask each of you to give me your first impressions here. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. The United States has over two million people incarcerated and the documentary notes that about 630,000 people are released each year. Its no secret that the teenage years are challenging for almost everybody, but things are actually much worse for those who find themselves on a dark path after being dealt a bad hand in life. Faculty are going to be evaluating what you do as a student, exclusively. So it totally enthralled me and motivated me to go after this education with pure zeal. Sometimes, it could take six hours. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're discussing the new four-part PBS documentary "College Behind Bars." Learn more about this important amendment to the Merit Board rules, and its disproportionate impact on incarcerated women, on our blog. WebCollege Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education, which premiered nationwide on PBS, is now available on Amazon Prime and PBS LearningMedia. TATRO: Sure. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. Thank you so much for speaking with us. 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. The documentary, "College Behind Bars," airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will also be available for streaming. One compelling storyline is the preparation of students on the Bard debate team and ultimately the team's win over Harvard University debate team, a dramatic moment captured by media around the world. Recidivism rates skyrocketed for a variety of reasons, including this, and slowly, some privately funded programs started to come back in. More than 2 million Americans are incarcerated today, and many are looking for alternatives to prison and ways to help offenders rebuild their lives. And the paradox here is that I was someone getting that type of education while I was in prison, but the education itself is what liberated me. And there was a tremendous void. Did you feel yourself changing as you moved through these courses? 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. Reimagining the place of higher education. 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. 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. NOVICK: Yeah. And at the age of 10, my family - once my dad made enough money, we moved to Long Island. I mean, I think, you know, having taught in the program myself, you walk into class, and the students are there. The film fills the screen with stories about human transformation as cameras follow a dozen incarcerated men and women as they try to earn college degrees through BPI. WebAnd that had been true for over a generation, and it was well understood and accepted that education was an essential part of criminal justice and of rehabilitation. Today, 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 the BPI Summer Residency, an intensive, experiential, and hands-on series of workshops on the nuts and bolts of college-in-prison for new and emerging practitioners led by BPI staff and alumni. 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. But the pilot program only extended eligibility to some 12,000 inmates, out of the over 2 million incarcerated people in the U.S. College Behind Bars makes a moral and fiscal case to change that. I want that education. 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. rehabilitation One of the Bard professors said, you know, I don't have all these multimedia tools that you do in a big institution, but when you're in a class where everybody's done the reading, you don't need them as much. I mean, you both entered prison as teenagers, right? They study math, as Dyjuan said, languages, history, literature, art, science, philosophy, economics, public policy, you know, public health. They work in business, the arts, and media; they attend graduate school; they have careers in human services. DAVIES: It's to literally count to ensure that every inmate is is accounted for. And I think what surprised my father the most was just how much I transformed while I was incarcerated. What kind of courses are taught? 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. What I prize is the education and the knowledge that I received in the process of obtaining that degree. We see him, don't we? And that moment when that letter came forever altered the trajectory of my life. behind prisons 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. Siena Poll Today Showed Huge, Bipartisan Majorities For Programs That Lower Barriers to Incarcerated New Yorkers Re-Entering Society DAVIES: Right. I'm done. And, you know, just being in a classroom setting where I was sitting down with people from different backgrounds, listening to their stories and their ideas and you start to appreciate that despite the differences that we have, there are so much more similarities among us. Furthermore, she is presently working as a Cleaning Technician at Mpw Industrial Services to build a good and comfortable life for her small yet adorable brood, as seen above. college behind bars where are they now. The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide. So there was this kind of seamless movement from one setting to another. But the pilot program only extended eligibility to some 12,000 inmates, out of the over 2 million incarcerated people in the U.S. College Behind Bars makes a moral and fiscal case to change that. WebNovember 25( 2019-11-25)November 26, 2019( 2019-11-26) College Behind Bars is a 2019 American television documentary series, directed by Lynn Novick, which originally aired on PBS. I have several friends who are still incarcerated that I spent my summers outside of class tutoring, and they're now in the program. The recent PBS series, College Behind Bars , chronicles Mr. Halls eventual parole and release in 2015. 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. 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. Our guests are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, two graduates of the program. Carisa Hale turned to drugs for some much-needed solace after having lost her father at the tender age of 11. He was released early in 2015. 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. 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. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations. Novick is a Peabody Award-winning filmmaker and longtime collaborator of Ken Burns. Both Hall and Israil are optimistic about the impact the documentary series will have on viewers. We will continue our conversation after a short break. "I would hope the viewer sees the effort many people put into personal transformation and the role of education in personal transformation," Hall said. WebCollege 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. Last week, the New York State budget included a major victory for educational equity, ending a 26-year-old ban on access to need-based Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) grants for incarcerated students. WebSynopsis:Men and women serving time in New York struggle to turn their lives around in a liberal arts college degree program. And when I actually started my courses, I was shocked by how rigorous and how demanding the program was. And you can learn grammar. Sebastian Yoon, how long after your graduation did you have to serve before you got - were released? Celebrating 200+ degrees in six graduations back in person with Congressman Bobby Rush. Jule Hall was 17 when he went to prison for being an accessory to homicide. Bard Prison Initiative students at Eastern New York Correctional Facility in an advanced bachelor's degree seminar. College Behind Bars is perhaps one of the best documentaries that Ive seen about criminal justice in the past 5 years. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Otherwise, you're not doing them any favors. You're looking ahead. And you see this room, and then all of a sudden, reality just comes crashing upon you. Others that have to do, you know, kind of routine prison jobs instead of being in class - was there jealousy or resentment? He worked 11-hour shifts, so he was mostly at work. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. I had to understand the idea of hubris, and I had to understand the idea of tragedy, and I had to understand these concepts. 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. WebAnd that had been true for over a generation, and it was well understood and accepted that education was an essential part of criminal justice and of rehabilitation. It's about a program in which professors of Bard College give college classes in six correctional institutions. WebCollege Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education, which premiered nationwide on PBS, is now available on Amazon Prime and PBS LearningMedia. bars behind college Virtually none return to prison. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. ; you ca n't just go back and get your book ; you ca just! 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