My father was in Vietnam, came home drug-addicted and has never really recovered from that. I mean, you both entered prison as teenagers, right? Tune in for an unparalleled look inside @BPIBard, one of the most rigorous & challenging #CollegeInPrison programs. I may watch Netflix, but I generally just read. 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. And, you know, what we hope is that through these - their very courageous and generous sharing of their stories, we can all have a different kind of conversation than we have had about who is in prison, why people are incarcerated, what our criminal justice system does and doesn't do to - it's supposed to be helping people to prepare to come back to society and become productive citizens. The Bard Prison Initiative enrolls over 300 incarcerated students in six New York State prisons. Let's keep the noise down. Were they all like that, Lynn? TATRO: Having a liberal arts education has made me a much deeper thinker. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. This is FRESH AIR. 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%. DAVIES: Dyjuan Tatro, what was your graduation experience like? (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. TATRO: Sure. In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act made people in prison ineligible for Pell Grants. So there are a lot of things that impede your education in that space. The majority were first arrested as minors. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. The type of things that are available to people in prison currently are somewhat outdated. Now he wants to help kids avoid prison. TATRO: Yeah. Get the latest news about BPI and our work. This is a scene where there's a group of brand-new students at the Eastern Correctional Facility, which is a maximum security facility in New York, just been admitted to the program after a competitive admissions process, and what we see is a not terribly large classroom and a group of 15 to 20 men in blue jumpsuits seated at typical classroom desks. 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. But that means a lot that weren't - probably some applied and did not get in. Your education in that space can be interrupted in all types of different ways at any time of day. Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon are graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. Both of you went into prison as teenagers and came out as young men. Copyright 2019 NPR. You have to go back to your cell. It was just a really, really moving moment to be celebrated on the main Bard campus in that way by all these amazing young people. DAVIES: We're talking about the new PBS documentary "College Behind Bars" with Lynn Novick, who directed the series. DAVIES: There was a time when higher education in correctional facilities was pretty common. Add College Behind Bars to your must watch list! It is a marvelous new film by @KenBurns, @LynnNovick, and @sbotstein! fevereiro 17, 2023; Posted by nene leakes father alan; 17 . WASHER WARS After that, I will follow that bike lane back home and do my laundry. danville jail mugshots; marlin 1898 stock; And within, you know, a month, they're doing college-level reading and writing. The subjects and filmmakers reveal how the power of education changes lives. And I wondered - I couldn't help but wonder when I went - when I submitted this application, would they see this and give me a chance for an interview had I not been able to write that I received a Bard bachelor's degree? The Bard Prison Initiative Debate Union prepares for a debate against the University of Vermont in 2014. Adult learners are, you know, much more mature and have life experience. Who among us is capable of academic excellence? So let's just listen to this. Or sushi, for that matter. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. "College Behind Bars" airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations and will be available for streaming. And one of the things that I saw as I watched the four episodes - and this reminded me of - I taught middle school and high school many, many years ago. DAVIES: We're talking about the new PBS documentary "College Behind Bars" with Lynn Novick, the director, and with Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, two formerly incarcerated graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. 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. Ken Burns is executive producer. They have both been to prison. So, you know, the - in the Greek, liberal arts education literally means education worthy of a free man. And I got there, and I took the entrance exam and sat in my cell and waited for the acceptance letter. Born Behind Bars is a documentary series that takes place in a maximum-security prison in Indiana. After graduation, there were like, 30, on each side of the shower room just waiting for you. YOON: Oh, yeah, without a doubt. After the federal Pell ban in 1994, New York implemented a ban on TAP eligibility in 1995. And so, you know, this experience has not only been personally rewarding and amazing for me. I'm going to get emotional. And in the context of the '90s and the tough-on-crime rhetoric and the super predator kind of, you know, demonization of people who have been convicted of crimes, as part of the Clinton crime bill, there was an amendment to withdraw eligibility for Pell grants for people who were in prison. John & Catherine Debs, The Cousins Foundation, Inc., Abrams Foundation, Schwartz/Reisman Foundation, Ted Dintersmith & Elizabeth Hazard, McCloskey Family Charitable Trust, and Donna & Dick Strong. Learn more about Pell restoration on our blog. Back in 2018, Netflix released its docuseries Girls Incarcerated: Young and Locked Up . 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. You can just see this intellectual blossoming. 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. I want that education. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. I was a lonely kid. Rodney, Sebastian and Giovannie embark on yearlong senior, The debate union faces Harvard. You know, one of the great things about being in BPI and one of the great things about this education happening in the educational space is that it really, really motivates people to be the best selves and to go on after this opportunity. Air date: Nov 25, 2019. You know, I'm a brother. So I pedal pretty forcefully to get a workout. So it's just - it's really an open question. They've earned college degrees and are now employed. A groundbreaking exploration of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. When kids stopped bothering me, I guess I started feeling this false sense of empowerment. DAVIES: Yeah. Ill fix me a scrambled egg with a cinnamon raisin bagel in my toaster. 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. NOVICK: Yes, indeed. YOON: My fellow graduates, my friends, let me remind you that we have an obligation to share our stories and to uphold the idea that if we wish to have a better world, as we all do, then we must first change ourselves. As public funding of college-in-prison returns to the field the question shifts from Will there be college-in-prison? After serving 22 years in prison, he is making up for lost time, with a job at the Ford Foundation, good coffee and a long soak in the tub. GLOBAL DINNER SCENE I eat out on Sunday another thing Im privileged to do because of my job. 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. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. You got to go back to your - I guess to your cell - right? And throughout this process, we're constantly talking with each other, helping each other out because on, like, the outside here, you have the Internet; our peers become the Internet. 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. After the 94 Crime Bill, state lawmakers followed the federal lead and rescinded state-level tuition assistance programs. Let's listen. So, you know, Bard has some re-entry services, mainly job placement and career development. In spring 2021 the NYS legislature passed the bill, and it was signed into law in July 2021. 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. SERIOUS READING I dont watch TV. And you can just see it. TATRO: You know, this - I'm the first person in my family who's ever gone to college. It's not our business. 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. 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,. This is five times a day, right? They contribute to their communities in all the ways one might expect of any college graduate. 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. TATRO: They are like, congratulations. 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. Ken Burns is executive producer. Few completed high school; most earned their GED in prison. That kind of thing. (Video Courtesy ESPN, Monday Night Countdown. it is the only time that they can trust they . 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. DAVIES: You know, I want to talk to you, Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, a bit about your lives. It's about a program in which professors of Bard College give college classes in six correctional institutions. We will continue our conversation after this short break. And they are first eligible for an associate degree, and then if they can that, they can apply to get a bachelor's degree. They study all the disciplines in the liberal arts. I mean, I think there are a lot of powerful stories in these documentaries of these students. DAVIES: And from the graduation ceremony of the Bard Prison Initiative. DYJUAN TATRO: You know, one of the most salient moments for me in my time in BPI is my first time walking in to the Bard library at Eastern Correctional Facility. . They come to us for essay-writing classes and math tutoring so that they can prepare to get into the program themselves. And I went to prison for 12 years at the age of 19, 20 for assault. No, I'm done. Parts 3 and 4 air Tuesday. Find standards-aligned teaching resources for College Behind Bars. This can't just be watching movies and talking about it; you have to have a very sophisticated, demanding syllabus and assessments and writing assignments, and the students have to perform at the level that we expect for Bard College. We can remove the first show in the list to add this one. ). College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. They both earned college degrees and are now employed. So currently, I work as a program specialist with the Democracy Fund of Open Society Foundations, which is one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the world. And what this education does is it untaps (ph) that potential. NOVICK: I'd just add that one of the really remarkable things about this program is that the admissions process is looking for people who have kind of intellectual curiosity and determination. TATRO: Oh, I think that couldn't be further from the truth. 80% are BIPOC. Also with us is the director of the documentary, Lynn Novick. I don't think I heard anybody use that as an excuse for committing crimes, though. YOON: Oh. 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. The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. In the beginning, you don't even know how to use a comma. college behind bars where are they now college behind bars where are they now. 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. TATRO: You know, I think that we want to have as many opportunities open to people in prison as possible. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. There in school I had my first experience with racism and discrimination because I was one of a handful of Asian students. Skiff Mountain Films 2019 | [email protected] I'm Terry Gross. So there was this kind of seamless movement from one setting to another. In one of our most power episodes ever, BPIs founder Max Kenner and recent graduate Sebastian Yoon join Adam this week to discuss howReadMore, One graduate, featured in a new PBS documentary, shares the ups and downs of earning a degree behind bars. We will continue our conversation after a short break. I hope you'll join us. I have to really compete with mostly older women to get my clothing washed. Read BPIs open letter here. Dyjuan, what's it been like connecting with your family again? Otherwise, you're not doing them any favors. DAVIES: Dyjuan Tatro, what was it like for you? You know, I would go in and do all the work in a day or two, and the expectations were really, really low. All these things are intersecting and overlapping. DAVIES: Yeah. Adjust the colors to reduce glare and give your eyes a break. But in reality, out here, the degrees matter. So, to savor this rich, hot drink in my hand is so fabulous with cinnamon, not too much sugar. 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. Following the development of regulations issued by the US Department of Education, incarcerated students who are enrolled in approved programs are expected to be eligible for Pell in the 2023-2024 academic year. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And you see people on this kind of, like, exponential learning curve from places where they, you know, might not seem at first glance that they're ready for "college work," quote, unquote. And I'm wondering - I'm going to ask Sebastian. When that door closes, you're at Bard College. We see him, don't we? CONTACT: Eric Koch | [email protected] I realized that all my experiences and my skills were related to prison work. 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