This movement took on renewed urgency following Congresss reinstatement of Pell Grant access to incarcerated students in 2020. DAVIES: You know, this is tough material in these classes. DAVIES: You know, I'd like, Sebastian and Dyjuan, to hear a little bit about how - reconciling with your families. And also with us are Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, two formerly incarcerated graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. Our guests today are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and two graduates of the program, Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro. 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. NOVICK: And I think - just to put the button or the final note is that the recidivism rates for the general population are between 50% and 60%. 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. Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide. YOON: Yeah. Most had circumstances early in their life, which were really, really tough, heartbreaking in many cases. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. So how long does this take? They appear in the PBS documentary "College Behind Bars," directed by Lynn Novick. So it's just - it's really an open question. You are Korean American, right? 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. Also with us are Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, graduates of the program. I mean, you both entered prison as teenagers, right? DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're discussing the new four-part PBS documentary "College Behind Bars." College Behind Bars is the inspiring, emotional, deeply human story of men and women struggling to earn college degrees while in prison for serious crimes. 2026. But the problem is that there can - bells can ring off in prison at any time. NOVICK: Yes, indeed. 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? 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. Learn more about this important amendment to the Merit Board rules, and its disproportionate impact on incarcerated women, on our blog. 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. Colleges or universities partnering in the Consortium. Get the latest news about BPI and our work. There's an extreme amount of noise in prisons. 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. Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon are graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. And that totally allowed me to reimagine myself. DAVIES: And Sebastian, you can tell us a little bit about your transition. Ive got to say, this is the worst part of Sunnyside: its very competitive. I may watch Netflix, but I generally just read. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Confronted with the inhuman monotony of life behind bars, Mr. Hall became a serious student, ultimately gaining admission to the Bard Prison Initiative, a competitive, full-time degree program run by Bard College. DAVIES: We're talking about the new PBS documentary "College Behind Bars" with Lynn Novick, who directed the series. As a result, the number of college-in-prison programs in New York fell from over 70 to 4. 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. 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. And then this changed in the . DAVIES: Wow, that's really remarkable. Get the latest news about BPI and our work. But in reality, out here, the degrees matter. Yoon and Tatro earned college degrees taking rigorous courses taught by Bard College faculty in a maximum-security prison. 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. 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. When you watch College Behind Bars, which began last night on PBS and concludes tonight, or anyReadMore. college behind bars where are they now. The recent PBS series, College Behind Bars, chronicles Mr. Halls eventual parole and release in 2015. I'm a college student. And what this education does is it untaps (ph) that potential. And they thrust you right back into prison. Your education in that space can be interrupted in all types of different ways at any time of day. Simpson and Fritsch have a new book called "Crime In Progress." In the beginning, you don't even know how to use a comma. And I remember walking in and seeing men like me in prison uniforms, except that they were speaking Mandarin. "Officer Leath was a true example of an officer dedicated not only to safety and security of the prison infant unit, but also exemplified the goal to help incarcerated women become good mothers before leaving . After the federal Pell ban in 1994, New York implemented a ban on TAP eligibility in 1995. And what were the circumstances that that landed you in this prison? I sit in there for about 30 minutes with my phone on the side playing music. College-in-prison, which had been common in prisons across the country, collapsed. We're in the business of education. YOON: Two more years after my bachelor's degree in 2017. 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. Copyright 2019 NPR. By Megan Heintz. However, I think that we also have to realize that we live in a country and we have an economy where the type of work that vocational training used to give you no longer exists. You know, you forgot your book; you can't just go back and get your book. By creating an account, you acknowledge that PBS may share your information with our member stations and our respective service providers, and that you have read and understand the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. And I just want to - after the euphoria of graduation, I mean, you certainly - you know, you had this terrific asset, this college degree that a lot of ex-offenders don't. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. People were invested in this. A QUIET START I allow myself to sleep no later than 7:30, because on a weekday I get up around 5. 1. It's about a program in which professors of Bard College give college classes in six correctional institutions. It's not our business. And fewer than 4% have gone back to prison. They study math, as Dyjuan said, languages, history, literature, art, science, philosophy, economics, public policy, you know, public health. They become the support system that we need to rely on. It's always a seminar style. Turkish prisons do not have a specific policy regarding children, but in general, they are not allowed in prison. Mr. Hall is the first formerly incarcerated person to be hired full-time by the Ford. to What will the field of college-in-prison look like? I had to understand the idea of hubris, and I had to understand the idea of tragedy, and I had to understand these concepts. Of course, I recognize where this comes from: I wasnt around children for 22 years. I was a very precocious child. You know, I'm a brother. And, you know, they're like, strip. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. How much noise is there, and does that make it hard to read, Dyjuan? I have to really compete with mostly older women to get my clothing washed. According to records, James murdered his stepmother and three stepbrothers in cold blood. Your support helps make this possible. MAX KENNER: Welcome to Bard College. 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 go to bed around 9 or 10. I realized that all my experiences and my skills were related to prison work. We will hear Sebastian Yoon first and then we'll hear Dyjuan Tatro. 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. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. I just wanted acknowledgement and this feeling of power and security. 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. ALBANY,ReadMore, Tags: CCF, College in Prison, Press Release, TAP, Turn on the Tap, In this episode, listen to an in-depth conversation with Max Kenner '01, alumnus Dyjuan Tatro '18, and Vivian Nixon, Executive Director of College & Community Fellowship who discuss the impact of federal Pell Grant restoration; what's next for TAP restoration in New York; theReadMore, The Appeal featured several segments about BPI in two Justice in America podcast episodes, as well as an op-ed. I guess you still treasure that moment, don't you? 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. Since its first cohort in 2001, BPI students have earned over 52,000 credits and more than 550 Bard College degrees. 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. What I prize is the education and the knowledge that I received in the process of obtaining that degree. This movement took on renewed urgency following Congresss reinstatement of Pell Grant access to incarcerated students in 2020. 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. 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. Having myself attended college while incarcerated, I can attest to the importance of theReadMore, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2022 No, I'm done. He worked 11-hour shifts, so he was mostly at work. And it helped me understand my place in the world and activated me as a civically minded person. 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. And they understand that research shows inmates who earn masters degrees behind bars have a 0% recidivism rate. Bad Boys bakery was a social enterprise set up in HM Prison Brixton, in the UK. Tell me how the experience compared with what you expected. Its about two miles away. But the Allens still have mixed feelings about free degrees for inmates. 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. In 2016, BPI was proud to join the first cohort of sites receiving experimental eligibility through Second Chance Pell. College Behind Bars is an intimate look at the lives and experiences of a dozen BPI students and their families that confronts . DAVIES: You know, I want to talk to you, Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, a bit about your lives. College Behind Bars | A Film by Lynn Novick | PBS All Episodes Now Streaming Men and women in prison for serious crimes try to earn college degrees in this groundbreaking story of. We, you know, without quite realizing at the beginning, have ended up exploring this really deep question. I recently binged born behind bars on A&E and was looking for any kind of update on these mamas/babies. You have this big smile on your face when you're leaving the auditorium and the mess hall. People walk around with these frowns and Im like, Why are you frowning? People bring their children in there, and I find myself so caught up in the little kid who gets the piece of paper on the back of his shoe and trying to make his parents aware. WASHER WARS After that, I will follow that bike lane back home and do my laundry. Incarcerated People Can Do More than Beat Harvard in a Debate. A new PBS documentary series follows prisoners who earn college degrees while serving time. Do they have a place as opposed to, you know, this really rigorous academic program? 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. While I have little tastes for things, I dont make an elaborate breakfast. college behind bars where are they now. So once that happened, almost all those programs vanished - went from about 800 programs to fewer than 10. Director Lynn Novick and graduates Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro talk about how the program changes lives. 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. The recent PBS series, "College Behind Bars," chronicles Mr. Hall's eventual parole and release in 2015. 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. This is FRESH AIR. Few completed high school; most earned their GED in prison. GROSS: Lynn Novick speaking with Dave Davies. He started his college education behind bars. DAVIES: And from the graduation ceremony of the Bard Prison Initiative. And he said - he says to me, you stood up. College 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. And they are first eligible for an associate degree, and then if they can that, they can apply to get a bachelor's degree. Both of you went into prison as teenagers and came out as young men. During the 2016 presidential campaign, they were hired by Republicans and then by Democrats and investigated connections between Trump and Russia. James Wiley. CONTACT: Eric Koch | ericdkoch@gmail.com I'm done. college behind bars where are they now. 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. Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations. It's two different systems, 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 the answer is no. Are they right about that, Dyjuan? Ill get up and just sit in silence in my apartment.. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. Because when people ask that question or that question's being asked, that's usually the implicit assumption, that they are only capable of this level of education. 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. How College in Prison Turns Around Lives and Saves Taxpayers Money, Knowledge & Redemption, A Conversation with Lynn Novick and Jule Hall, Incarcerated People Can Do More than Beat Harvard in a Debate. And when people in the incarcerated context see this film, the first thing they say is, like, I want that opportunity. We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. And I was bullied a lot. 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. Teaching resources for NOVICK: Yeah. Ill fix me a scrambled egg with a cinnamon raisin bagel in my toaster. (SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). So people in the corrections department recognize that as well. . College Behind Bars is a production of Skiff Mountain Films and is directed by Lynn Novick. College Behind Bars was filmed over four years at two different prisons by Novick and producer Sarah Botstein, allowing the show to follow what happens to students in BPI: some transform,. 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. Through the lived experiences of the students and their families, this is a groundbreaking story of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Also with us is the director of the documentary, Lynn Novick. You know, I am originally from Albany, N.Y. The doc is also a moving portrait of individuals determined to defy the odds and build a better future for themselves.. I'm a son. It teaches you how smart you are. 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. We always have to be mindful of how those people like myself are returning back to their communities and back to their families. TATRO: Oh, I think that couldn't be further from the truth. After returning home, BPI alumni become independent taxpaying citizens. You know, I would go in and do all the work in a day or two, and the expectations were really, really low. You're looking ahead. And when we leave this room tonight, there is now something that can be taken away from you that's completely different than when you walked in. TATRO: And so I got to walk across the stage on Bard's Annandale campus with the other 400 students in my year in 2018. And I think what surprised my father the most was just how much I transformed while I was incarcerated. So I was charged at the age of 16 for manslaughter in the first degree, and I was sentenced to 15 years. Rodney has been incarcerated for 17 years and is currently incarcerated at Fishkill. And so, you know, this experience has not only been personally rewarding and amazing for me. TATRO: Yeah. TATRO: They are like, congratulations. TATRO: You know, this - I'm the first person in my family who's ever gone to college. Let's listen. 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 then I came to crave it more and more. And school was just really too easy. How can we have justice without redemption? Yoon and Tatro both entered prison as teenagers, and both earned bachelor's degrees in the Bard Prison Initiative. Prison has the worst coffee, oh, my goodness thats one of the things I think anybody would tell you. College Behind Bars first premiered Nov. 25, 2019 on PBS and has since then become popular among Netflix audiences. Vocational training is fine, but we should also be having an opportunity for higher education. DAVIES: Dyjuan Tatro, what was it like for you? - and wait until you get the all clear? Dyjuan, you want to share something? The College: Comprehensive Academic Engagement. DAVIES: And have you both stayed in touch with folks you knew from the program and helped - people you helped? You know, he likes to tell me, you know, many people, when they get pushed down to their hands and knees, the easiest thing for them to do is just lay down. You can see then Minister. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). While Rodney and Sebastian complete their 100-page senior projects and present them to fac, Men and women in prison for serious crimes try to earn college degrees in this groundbreaking story of incarceration, inju, When incarcerated students from the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) Debate Union beat a team from Harvard, their victory made. BPI alumni overwhelmingly go home to their communities and give back in ways that positively impact the lives of others. When that door closes, you're at Bard College. In 1993, Mr. Hall, then 17, was involved in a gunfight in Brooklyn, when a bullet fired toward him killed his neighbor instead. 80% are BIPOC. Dyjuan, what's it been like connecting with your family again? I was in a poor, disadvantaged community, and I ended up at a very young age in gangs. There are bells. TATRO: Sure. We will continue our conversation after this short break. And at the age of 10, my family - once my dad made enough money, we moved to Long Island. You've just tried to add this show to My List. Directed by Lynn Novick and produced by Sarah Botstein, College Behind Bars profiles the Bard Prison Initiative, a Bard College program that extends its curriculum and has awarded nearly. So let's just listen to this. Your purchase supports PBS and helps make our programming possible. 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. But I also look at the Manhattan skyline. So, you know, Bard has some re-entry services, mainly job placement and career development. 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. I don't see myself as a person. After the 94 Crime Bill, state lawmakers followed the federal lead and rescinded state-level tuition assistance programs. Even after you graduate, as long as you are in a prison in which Bard Prison Initiative operates, you're allowed to take courses. NOVICK: Yeah. By Jamil Smith The subjects and filmmakers reveal how the power of education changes lives. And you can just see it. So it totally enthralled me and motivated me to go after this education with pure zeal. 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: Tried as an adult for his involvement in the fight, Mr. Hall was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Confronted with the "inhuman monotony" of life behind bars, Mr. Hall became a serious student, ultimately gaining admission to the Bard Prison Initiative, a competitive, full-time degree program run by Bard College. In four years of study they become scholars, shatter stereotypes, reckon with their pasts, and prepare to return to society. 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). And then upon entering prison, I felt the same otherness that I felt while I was in middle and high school. And then this changed in the '90s when we had the crime bill, right? 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.

Tom Tolbert Wife, Elizabeth Kloepfer Neck Surgery, Fatal Vision Crime Scene Photos, Articles C