So people in the corrections department recognize that as well. What I prize is the education and the knowledge that I received in the process of obtaining that degree. Sometimes, it could take six hours. 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. I always thought that my logic and my feelings trumped others - no pun intended. Incarcerated men and women in New York State are admitted to the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), one of the most rigorous co, Sebastian, Dyjuan and Tamara reflect on the difficult circumstances of their childhood, while the debate team prepares to, The debate union faces their rival across the river, West Point. Skiff Mountain Films 2019 | info@skiffmountainfilms.com You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. DAVIES: You know, I'd like, Sebastian and Dyjuan, to hear a little bit about how - reconciling with your families. 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. 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. 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? According to records, James murdered his stepmother and three stepbrothers in cold blood. DAVIES: Yeah. No, I'm done. 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. 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. This is not my identity. And with time, as we become scholars, the idea that we should be limited to just vocational training just becomes absurd. And that moment when that letter came forever altered the trajectory of my life. 2026. 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. NOVICK: Yeah. (Video Courtesy ESPN, Monday Night Countdown. And then I saw that it worked. Learn more about Pell restoration on our blog. Read BPIs open letter here. Lacy Aaron Schmidt was just 14 when he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Alana Calahan, in Columbia County, Georgia. More than 2 million Americans are incarcerated today, and many are looking for alternatives to prison and ways to help offenders rebuild their lives. When Bard Prison Initiative Students Debated Harvard. We, you know, without quite realizing at the beginning, have ended up exploring this really deep question. We will hear Sebastian Yoon first and then we'll hear Dyjuan Tatro. College Behind Bars. Max is the founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, and Rodney received his bachelor's degree from Bard College in 2017 through the Bard Prison Initiative. TATRO: They are like, congratulations. Others that have to do, you know, kind of routine prison jobs instead of being in class - was there jealousy or resentment? 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. It raises questions we urgently need to address: What is prison for? 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. DAVIES: Dyjuan Tatro, what was your graduation experience like? And then they're like, strip. Are children allowed in Turkish prisons? 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. And today, there are 300 students in six facilities in New York state, mostly men, but there's one facility for women as well. GROSS: Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro earned bachelor's degrees from the Bard Prison Initiative. This is a full-time and long-term and total commitment. BPIs newest initiative, the Bard Microcollege, expands yet further the scope and impact of this work, delivering high-quality liberal arts education to communities outside of prison through partnerships with community-based institutions. And I think what surprised my father the most was just how much I transformed while I was incarcerated. My mother left me and my siblings when I was 5, so my dad raised us three - my older brother and my sister - by himself. college behind bars where are they now. DAVIES: Right. Josie Duffy Rice and co-host Derecka Purnell are joined by Dyjuan Tatro '18 andReadMore, The Bard Prison Initiative is a revolutionary program that provides a rigorous college education to men and women in prison. 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. When incarcerated students from the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) Debate Union beat a team from Harvard, their victory made headlines around the world. 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. . YOON: Oh. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. NOVICK: Yeah. 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. Born Behind Bars is a documentary series that takes place in a maximum-security prison in Indiana. But for the men gathered on this October afternoon, it. John & Catherine Debs, The Cousins Foundation, Inc., Abrams Foundation, Schwartz/Reisman Foundation, Ted Dintersmith & Elizabeth Hazard, McCloskey Family Charitable Trust, and Donna & Dick Strong. They become the support system that we need to rely on. Prison has the worst coffee, oh, my goodness thats one of the things I think anybody would tell you. 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. DAVIES: Lynn Novick, congratulations on the documentary. So within the prison context, you know, people know who the guys are in BPI, and they come to us for advice. The Bard Prison Initiative Debate Union prepares for a debate against the University of Vermont in 2014. When you watch College Behind Bars, which began last night on PBS and concludes tonight, or anyReadMore. DAVIES: We're talking about the new PBS documentary "College Behind Bars" with Lynn Novick, who directed the series. This is the thing we know how to do, and we happen to do it here. The recent PBS series, College Behind Bars, chronicles Mr. Halls eventual parole and release in 2015. Lynn Novick, Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, welcome to FRESH AIR. 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. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This July we issued $650,000 in grants in the US and around the world. I grew up in a single-parent household, the child of a disabled mother. COLLEGE BEHIND BARS, a four-part documentary film series, tells the story of a small group of incarcerated men and women struggling to earn college degrees and turn their lives around in one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the United States - the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI). I'm a son. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will be available for streaming. Copyright 2019 NPR. College Behind Bars remains - especially in the first episode - admirably focused on the practicalities of prison life and prison programmes. danville jail mugshots; marlin 1898 stock; This is FRESH AIR. You know, I am originally from Albany, N.Y. 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. Teaching resources for And I just wonder if you could reflect a bit on how it might have changed you - Dyjuan. 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. 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. Were they all like that, Lynn? And I think it bred for me empathy, which is something that I didn't have a lot of when I was a teenager. 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. And I never had really thought about going to college until, all of a sudden, there was this thing that I heard about in prison called the Bard Prison Initiative. 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. Use one of the services below to sign in to PBS: You've just tried to add this video to My List. I thought it was incredibly well done in all ways. But the problem is that there can - bells can ring off in prison at any time. Simpson and Fritsch have a new book called "Crime In Progress." (SOUNDBITE OF MARCUS ROBERTS' "IT'S MARIA'S DANCE"). You have to go back to your cell. In this era of mass incarceration, America is the world's largest jailer, with more than 2 million men and women behind bars; 630,000 are released annually, and nearly 50 percent end up back in . TATRO: Yeah. There's a lot of interaction with the students, with the professor and with each other, and a tremendous amount learning also goes on outside the classroom. So once that happened, almost all those programs vanished - went from about 800 programs to fewer than 10. I mean, I think there are a lot of powerful stories in these documentaries of these students. TURN ON THE TAP NY PRAISES GOVERNOR HOCHUL FOR INCLUDING TUITION ASSISTANCE FOR INCARCERATED NEW YORKERS IN BUDGET 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. But that means a lot that weren't - probably some applied and did not get in. I was a lonely kid. Who has access to educational opportunity? WASHER WARS After that, I will follow that bike lane back home and do my laundry. DAVIES: Dyjuan Tatro, what was it like for you? They contribute to their communities in all the ways one might expect of any college graduate. TATRO: You know, this - I'm the first person in my family who's ever gone to college. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. You can see then Minister. Of course, I recognize where this comes from: I wasnt around children for 22 years. He worked 11-hour shifts, so he was mostly at work. The subjects and filmmakers reveal the inspiring story of how the power of education can change lives in College Behind Bars. So, you know, Bard has some re-entry services, mainly job placement and career development. People were invested in this. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. Since its first cohort in 2001, BPI students have earned over 52,000 credits and more than 550 Bard College degrees. So it's just - it's really an open question. DAVIES: And from the graduation ceremony of the Bard Prison Initiative. Ken Burns is executive producer. I hope you'll join us. 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. YOON: Yeah. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. CAST OF CHARACTERS Im ashamed to say this, but I people-watch. I was a very precocious child. So just to have normal kind of conversation, people have to literally yell back and forth. Did you feel yourself changing as you moved through these courses? And they understand that research shows inmates who earn masters degrees behind bars have a 0% recidivism rate. oyster bay snow crab combo meat puckett's auto auction okc does tulane have a track. Read the Interview in Mother Jones Post Date: 12-11-2019 And you can learn grammar. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. 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. We need to be preparing people in prison for the 21st century, and I think there's no better way to do that than giving them a liberal arts education. Thank you so much for speaking with us. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations. (Speaking Korean) Thank you. Ive got to say, this is the worst part of Sunnyside: its very competitive. 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. That is to say, the college has no interest in the nature of your criminal conviction, the length of your sentence, how much time you have left in prison. 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. And then upon entering prison, I felt the same otherness that I felt while I was in middle and high school. DAVIES: You know, it's interesting, Lynn Novick. YOON: My family has been super supportive of me, as you'll see in the documentary, especially my father. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. 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. For me, my family has been YOON: My dad, appa, I'm sorry for having dishonored our family, for putting you through such an undeserved and unbearable pain. For 22 years he didnt have one. college behind bars where are they now. Back in 2018, Netflix released its docuseries Girls Incarcerated: Young and Locked Up . 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. 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? 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. And I think - I was lonely. We will continue our conversation after a short break. Leath on "Born Behind Bars" Those interviewed in the video say Leath truly cared about the babies and their mothers in the nursery. Let's listen. Part 1: 'No One Ever Taught Me Any of That.'. 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. 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. I went on to work for Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney on his attorney general campaign here in New York. College Behind Bars is a production of Skiff Mountain Films, in association with Florentine Films and WETA-TV. It was seeing what happens when students are first confronted with material that seems really daunting, and they have to learn to think critically and express ideas that are kind of uncomfortable and that over time you see them - they're - you know, their thinking and expression becomes sharper and more sophisticated. For now, the roughly 300 students taking . Bad Boys bakery was a social enterprise set up in HM Prison Brixton, in the UK. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Your education in that space can be interrupted in all types of different ways at any time of day. Are created on a rush deadline by an npr contractor these students but I people-watch chronicles. 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