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Give to BPI Search Our Work The College Comprehensive academic engagement Reentry & Alumni Affairs Putting education to work National Engagement Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide Microcollege A new model for college education News + Media Blog Latest Updates from BPI Press Room BPI In The News Video Stories and Moments Infographic Alumni Journeys Documentary Ways to Watch College Behind Bars Now Streaming on Netflix and Amazon Press Highlights From College Behind Bars Support Donate Give to BPI Shop Online Store About Who We Are History and people Contact For information about our work Menu Search Give to BPI Our Work The College Comprehensive academic engagement Reentry & Alumni Affairs Putting education to work National Engagement Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide Microcollege A new model for college education News + Media Blog Latest Updates from BPI Press Room BPI In The News Video Stories and Moments Infographic Alumni Journeys Documentary Ways to Watch College Behind Bars Now Streaming on Netflix and Amazon Press Highlights From College Behind Bars Support Donate Give to BPI Shop Online Store About Who We Are History and people Contact For information about our work Search for: Search Get the latest news about BPI and our work. Sign Up for Email Updates Hear from Rodney Spivey-Jones '17 and Max Kenner '01 Listen to the Justice in America Podcast > Now an Emmy nominee! Read more & watch > Reimagining the place of higher education. The College: Comprehensive Academic Engagement Explore how the college works > Our Work Continues Despite COVID-19 Learn how BPI is continuing coursework using a distance model, building and maintaining a virtual community, publishing community voices and tapping into our longtime work in public health, and supporting alumni through trying times. Read More Join the conversation! The news today from Washington signals the biggest victory in the field of #CollegeInPrison in decades. It’s a long time coming. This undoes the #94crimebill ’s ban on #Pell Grants for incarcerated students. #PellRestoration #PELLYES A thread. pic.twitter.com/dpll9JPGFL — Bard Prison Initiative (@BPIBard) December 20, 2020 “I got into college in prison. That education, that experience, that degree radically changed the trajectory of my life.” @DyjuanTatro got a bachelor’s degree from Bard College through @BPIBard . His goal now is to advocate for the importance of education for incarcerated people. pic.twitter.com/r3gYZOpJSY — AJ Contrast (@AJContrast) December 18, 2020 Over winter break, @BPIBard staff are joining BPI & #Microcollege students in reading Silver Sparrow by @tayari In IN, the Women’s College Partnership has invited community in Indy to read The Water Dancer by @TaNehisiCoats along w/ women at the Indiana Women’s Prison. #BookClub pic.twitter.com/HBGomuFJyw — Bard Prison Initiative (@BPIBard) January 5, 2021 Our Work Since our first class at Eastern in 2001, BPI has been reimagining who college is for and where it might lead. What is college for? The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. Since 2001, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within America’s prison systems. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning. 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 a nationwide network of leading universities and colleges to catalyze a transformation in the relationship between education and criminal justice in the United States. BPI’s newest initiative, the Bard Microcollege, expands yet further the scope and impact of this work, delivering high-quality liberal arts education to isolated communities outside of prison through partnerships with community-based institutions. Recent Blog Posts Senior Project See Student Journeys Who are BPI students? 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 crime and incarceration. The majority were first arrested as children. Few completed high school; most earned their GED in prison. 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. After returning home, BPI alumni become independent taxpaying citizens. They work in business, the arts, and media; they attend graduate school; they have careers in the human services. Virtually none return to prison. They contribute to their communities in all the ways one might expect of any college graduates. By The Numbers 160 Courses offered in prison each year 600 Bard degrees earned 15 Colleges or universities partnering in the Consortium Public Health at BPI From in-prison classrooms to graduate schools and careers, students and alumni are rising to meet the urgent demand for trained professionals and visionary leaders in public health. It Starts in the Classroom See how BPI’s Public Health Program prepares students and alumni for careers in public health. Public Health at BPI Community Voices Through the COVID crisis, we are highlighting BPI’s longstanding work in public health and BPI community voices in response to the virus. View Journal Current Topics We're Following: Pell Grant Restoration Merit Board Eligibility Scroll tabs to the right Pell Grant Restoration Merit Board Eligibility In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act made people in prison ineligible for Pell Grants. After the ‘94 Crime Bill, state lawmakers followed the federal lead and rescinded state-level tuition assistance programs. College-in-prison, which had been common in prisons across the country, collapsed. BPI was founded in 1999, in the wake of the decimation of college-in-prison. Since that time, BPI has joined other advocates in championing the return of Pell eligibility for incarcerated students. In 2016, BPI was proud to join the first cohort of sites receiving experimental eligibility through Second Chance Pell. The movement to #RestorePell has grown to enjoy bipartisan support in recent years and in July 2020 the House passed Pell restoration in its appropriations bill. Learn more about Pell Restoration on our blog. In early 2020 BPI began working with lawmakers in New York to change Merit Board eligibility rules so that all incarcerated students can be eligible for early release based on earning college credits. On July 21, 2020 the NYS Assembly passed A9543A to include college credits in the Merit Time Eligibility Criteria. Now, the NYS Senate needs to pass its version of the same bill, S7633. Learn more about this important amendment to the Merit Board rules, and its disproportionate impact on incarcerated women, on our blog . BPI News 7/31/2020 The Appeal BPI and The Appeal Explore College Education in Prison The Appeal features several segments about BPI in both the Justice in America podcast as well as an Op-Ed. Check out more details below: 4/22/2019 Justice in America Episode 29: Schools in Prison Josie Duffy Rice and co-host Derecka Purnell are joined by Dyjuan Tatro and Wesley… Read More 4/1/2020 Factually! with Adam Conover #46 College Behind Bars with Max Kenner and Sebastian Yoon The Bard Prison Initiative is a revolutionary program that provides a rigorous college education to men and women in prison. In one of our most power episodes ever, BPI’s founder Max Kenner and recent graduate Sebastian Yoon join Adam this week to discuss h...