Celebrating 200+ degrees in six graduations back in person with Congressman Bobby Rush. You can see then Minister. The men,ReadMore, College Behind Bars, a new PBS documentary executive-produced by Ken Burns, shines a light on a program that every major university in America should be sponsoring And so it's a pioneering program, not innovative in the sense that there had been higher education in prison before but unusual in the sense that very few institutions were doing this at that time. Our guests are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, two graduates of the program. And, you know, they're like, strip. In four years of study they become scholars, shatter stereotypes, reckon with their pasts, and prepare to return to society. The documentary, "College Behind Bars," airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will also be available for streaming. DAVIES: Sebastian Yoon, tell us what it was like getting started in these classes. 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. James Wiley committed a heinous crime at 15 years of age. DAVIES: You know, I'd like, Sebastian and Dyjuan, to hear a little bit about how - reconciling with your families. Copyright 2019 NPR. As a result, the number of college-in-prison programs in New York fell from over 70 to 4. 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. The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. And they really love to engage the professors and each other, and that was true for every single class. I recently binged born behind bars on A&E and was looking for any kind of update on these mamas/babies. 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. Ive got to say, this is the worst part of Sunnyside: its very competitive. DAVIES: You know, some might think that prison inmates would have an easier time focusing on all this rigorous schoolwork because they're literally, you know, captive in the institution and are not distracted by parties or dating or football games like, you know, students on a traditional campus. 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. I go to bed around 9 or 10. It's about a program in which professors of Bard College give college classes in six correctional institutions. DAVIES: Yeah. college behind bars where are they now. And I think it bred for me empathy, which is something that I didn't have a lot of when I was a teenager. Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon are graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. And what were the circumstances that that landed you in this prison? A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE Once I put something in my stomach, I bike ride. How much noise is there, and does that make it hard to read, Dyjuan? Are children allowed in Turkish prisons? Sign up for the College Behind Bars newsletter to learn more about the film and events nationwide. With Botstein onboard as a producer, Novick set out to direct what became the four-part PBS docuseries "College Behind Bars." Executive produced by Burns, the documentary examines mass. I'm a son. Teaching resources for We will continue our conversation after this short break. And that's not to say that it's not challenging, but that is to point to the fact that, if we support people transitioning back in society in the right way, they'd be capable of almost anything, you know? Get the latest news about BPI and our work. Sometimes, it could take six hours. He lives alone in an apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, which he chose for its proximity to the foundation, just across the East River. They become the support system that we need to rely on. DAVIES: You know, it's interesting, Lynn Novick. But the problem is that there can - bells can ring off in prison at any time. The type of things that are available to people in prison currently are somewhat outdated. 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. 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. I had to show my passion. And they thrust you right back into prison. This clip from Lynn Novicks College Behind Bars highlights the kind of academic work BPI students are doing as we defy expectations of who college is for and where it might lead. 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. YOON: Oh. I thought it was incredibly well done in all ways. And there's - I'll just let the listeners know there's an emotional moment here where you start to speak of your family, and you have to stop and compose yourself. Hold on. Hes a regular at the local Starbucks, where he takes his coffee with cinnamon, not too much sugar.. google mountain view charge cash app; wect news bladen county; college behind bars where are they now; college behind bars where are they now. college behind bars where are they now. I have to read a lot for work, so whether its grants or theory-related and I mean, its great reading, but its not like Walter Mosley or some of those things I became fond of. And we're just a really tight cohort, and we see each other as family because we've been through the same struggles and we got the same education. DAVIES: It's to literally count to ensure that every inmate is is accounted for. College Behind Bars is perhaps one of the best documentaries that Ive seen about criminal justice in the past 5 years. Most had circumstances early in their life, which were really, really tough, heartbreaking in many cases. Now he wants to help kids avoid prison. 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. All Rights Reserved. MAX KENNER: Welcome to Bard College. And then upon entering prison, I felt the same otherness that I felt while I was in middle and high school. YOON: I would say that all my friends right now are my peers from the BPI program, and our network is really growing. We always have to be mindful of how those people like myself are returning back to their communities and back to their families. You have to go back to your cell. 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. You're looking ahead. They both earned college degrees and are now employed. 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 in reality, out here, the degrees matter. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. DAVIES: Tell us a little bit about the work you're doing. And then they're like, strip. Tell me how the experience compared with what you expected. How Jule Hall, Graduate of the Bard Prison Initiative, Spends His Sundays, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/nyregion/jule-hall-college-behind-bars-pbs.html. And I kind of froze in place and just looked around the room and just felt really, really inspired. So I pedal pretty forcefully to get a workout. oyster bay snow crab combo meat puckett's auto auction okc does tulane have a track. College Behind Bars is a production of Skiff Mountain Films and is directed by Lynn Novick. Thats another thing I think is a spillover from prison: I saw the television as a space of conflict because people would argue over what to watch, so I stayed away from it. SEBASTIAN YOON: When I first got into the Bard Prison Initiative, I honestly had low expectations of the program, and I think that's because, in general, as a prisoner, I had low expectations on life. And 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. When incarcerated students from the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) Debate Union beat a team from Harvard, their victory made headlines around the world. 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. I believe that me having committed a crime doesn't make me a bad person. 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. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. You tend to have these open cell blocks, and people are locked in their cells. But for the men gathered on this October afternoon, it. 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 . I just wanted acknowledgement and this feeling of power and security. 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. Incarcerated men and women are admitted to the Bard Prison Initiative, a rigorous college program, where some make great strides while others . 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. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. college behind bars where are they now. 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. 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. 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. And he said - he says to me, you stood up. Do they have a place as opposed to, you know, this really rigorous academic program? 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. And then I came to crave it more and more. 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 before the 1994 Clinton crime bill, there were college programs in almost every correctional facility in America. College Behind Bars (two hours) begins Monday at 9 p.m. with Parts 1 and 2 on WETA and MPT. Read the Interview in Mother Jones Post Date: 12-11-2019 I mean, you both entered prison as teenagers, right? YOON: Oh, yeah, without a doubt. And she said, well, welcome to college. This is FRESH AIR. 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. Neither had been in a maximum security . Let's keep the noise down. And the Bard Prison Initiative has had 600 graduates be released over the last 20 years. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. WebCollege Behind Bars, which airs on PBS Monday and Tuesday night, offers TV audiences a rare window into the U.S. correctional system. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. DAVIES: Wow, that's really remarkable. Men and women seek college degrees - and a chance at redemption - while incarcerated. So people in the corrections department recognize that as well. And when I actually started my courses, I was shocked by how rigorous and how demanding the program was. - with, you know, caps and gowns and photos and parents in the audience. I guess you still treasure that moment, don't you? I'm interested in your take on this - whether vocational programs should be there. 2026. 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. Great to have all of you. Both are featured in the PBS documentary series College Behind Bars. Could you talk just a little bit about the process? 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. They worked with former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, whose dossier was leaked and published. And they are first eligible for an associate degree, and then if they can that, they can apply to get a bachelor's degree. 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 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. (Speaking Korean) Thank you. 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. Back in 2018, Netflix released its docuseries Girls Incarcerated: Young and Locked Up . I mean, it's a wide range of liberal arts curriculums. I mean, I think there are a lot of powerful stories in these documentaries of these students. YOON: But to those who would ask that question, Dave, you could also ask them, would you ask the same question of students who are out here? But I'm wondering, was there a point at which it just seemed hard to adjust? - and wait until you get the all clear? 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. You have this big smile on your face when you're leaving the auditorium and the mess hall. I'm a college student. "College Behind Bars" follows students in the Bard Prison Initiative, a privately funded college program that began in 2001 in New York state prisons. You are Korean American, right? My father was in Vietnam, came home drug-addicted and has never really recovered from that. 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. That means that 50% to 60% of the 630,000 people who get out of prison every year are back in prison in three years. GROSS: Lynn Novick speaking with Dave Davies. And with time, as we become scholars, the idea that we should be limited to just vocational training just becomes absurd. I don't see myself as a person. When we come home now, we often help each other get jobs. 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. 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. So I grew up in Flushing, Queens. They've earned college degrees and are now employed. When Bard Prison Initiative Students Debated Harvard. For 22 years he didnt have one. Even after you graduate, as long as you are in a prison in which Bard Prison Initiative operates, you're allowed to take courses. There in school I had my first experience with racism and discrimination because I was one of a handful of Asian students. It adds stability. 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. Max Kenner, when he started it, was an undergraduate at Bard and just saw this need and, you know, convinced the college that it would be something that they should try to do. 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? Adjust the colors to reduce glare and give your eyes a break. 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college behind bars where are they now
college behind bars where are they now