DAVIES: Lynn Novick, congratulations on the documentary. I mean, you both entered prison as teenagers, right? CONTACT: Eric Koch | ericdkoch@gmail.com We will continue our conversation after this short break. rush medical college leadership; college behind bars where are they now. 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. 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? "College Behind Bars" airs on PBS stations tonight and tomorrow. 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. TATRO: You know, I'm not taking it back to my cell and going to sleep with it. The College: Comprehensive Academic Engagement. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. GLOBAL DINNER SCENE I eat out on Sunday another thing Im privileged to do because of my job. So I was charged at the age of 16 for manslaughter in the first degree, and I was sentenced to 15 years. 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 Copyright 2023 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), all rights reserved. The four-part series follows the journey of men and women incarcerated in. I want that education. Part 1: 'No One Ever Taught Me Any of That.'. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're discussing the new four-part PBS documentary "College Behind Bars." And you can just see it. DAVIES: There was a time when higher education in correctional facilities was pretty common. Sebastian Yoon, Dyjuan Tatro, congratulations on your degrees. 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. YOON: For me, a liberal arts education cultivated in me conceptual and intellectual openness that invited me to consider worlds outside of my world from different times, thought and space. It gave me the ability to put names to systems and things that had impacted my life. Otherwise, you're not doing them any favors. 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. No, I'm done. Copyright 2019 NPR. I thought it was incredibly well done in all ways. Im trying to act younger than my age, so I sometimes listen to trap music. You tend to have these open cell blocks, and people are locked in their cells. I was - I had to show them that I was smart enough to be part of this group. DAVIES: Wow. College Behind Bars (two hours) begins Monday at 9 p.m. with Parts 1 and 2 on WETA and MPT. I mean, I think, you know, having taught in the program myself, you walk into class, and the students are there. 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. 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. Novick directed the four-part documentary "College Behind Bars," which airs tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations. Learn more about this important amendment to the Merit Board rules, and its disproportionate impact on incarcerated women, on our blog. 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. FUEL After Starbucks, Ill go home Im usually hungry by then. Having myself attended college while incarcerated, I can attest to the importance of theReadMore, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2022 And I will say this - when we started the project, sometimes people would say to us, oh, most people in prison will say that they're innocent and they didn't do the crime that they're there for. Helping prisoners go to college helps New York, Press Release: TURN ON THE TAP NY PRAISES GOVERNOR HOCHUL FOR INCLUDING TUITION ASSISTANCE FOR INCARCERATED NEW YORKERS IN BUDGET, WBAIs On the Count The Prison And Criminal Justice Report, BPI and College Behind Bars in The Appeal, College Behind Bars with Max Kenner and Sebastian Yoon. GROSS: Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro earned bachelor's degrees from the Bard Prison Initiative. DAVIES: And your dad went through some really tough times, sent you to Korea when you were little 'cause he was trying to find a way to keep things together. I just committed a bad act. Use one of the services below to sign in to PBS: You've just tried to add this video to My List. 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. How can we have justice without redemption? it is the only time that they can trust they . We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. 2023 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). And what were the circumstances that that landed you in this prison? Incarcerated People Can Do More than Beat Harvard in a Debate. Since 2001, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within Americas prison systems. 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. 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. In the fall of 2015, a maximum-security prison in New York invited Harvards debate team to compete against a squad of three incarcerated men. Born Behind Bars is a documentary series that takes place in a maximum-security prison in Indiana. DAVIES: It's to literally count to ensure that every inmate is is accounted for. 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. 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. GROSS: Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, our guests will be Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, the former Wall Street Journal reporters who formed Fusion GPS, a private research company. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. 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. You know, I'm a brother. So I walked out of prison on August 10 of 2017, and I was back in college on August 24 finishing my B.A. 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 the next year, you realize that you're writing 10-page papers with correct grammar. 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. 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. You know, I am originally from Albany, N.Y. But I also look at the Manhattan skyline. Recidivism rates skyrocketed for a variety of reasons, including this, and slowly, some privately funded programs started to come back in. And I went to prison for 12 years at the age of 19, 20 for assault. TATRO: They are like, congratulations. Since its first cohort in 2001, BPI students have earned over 52,000 credits and more than 550 Bard College degrees. College Behind Bars, an Emmy-nominated, four-part documentary about the transformative power of education. BPI transforms wealth, power, and purpose in America by providing full-scholarship, college education in the most unlikely places. TATRO: Having a liberal arts education has made me a much deeper thinker. That's how I got my job at Open Society Foundations. This is FRESH AIR. I just wanted acknowledgement and this feeling of power and security. He started his college education behind bars. The Bard Prison Initiative Debate Union prepares for a debate against the University of Vermont in 2014. And today, there are 300 students in six facilities in New York state, mostly men, but there's one facility for women as well. DAVIES: Lynn Novick, give us the basics of the program. I had to show my passion. It raises questions we urgently need to address: What is prison for? This is not me. YOON: Well, classes usually happen in between counts. And then this changed in the '90s when we had the crime bill, right? So, you know, the - in the Greek, liberal arts education literally means education worthy of a free man. The documentary prompts viewers to consider the importance of higher education in prison. DAVIES: Yeah. And that's - Pell grants are supposed to be based on economic need. Even after you graduate, as long as you are in a prison in which Bard Prison Initiative operates, you're allowed to take courses. DAVIES: And that's from the documentary "College Behind Bars," directed by our guest Lynn Novick. 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. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. SERIOUS READING I dont watch TV. Your education in that space can be interrupted in all types of different ways at any time of day. Your support helps make this possible. Gordon Ramsay, in 2012, featured the enterprise as part of the show Gordon Behind Bars. 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. I believe that me having committed a crime doesn't make me a bad person. Simpson and Fritsch have a new book called "Crime In Progress." He lives alone in an apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, which he chose for its proximity to the foundation, just across the East River. Read BPIs open letter here. I guess you still treasure that moment, don't you? College Behind Bars remains - especially in the first episode - admirably focused on the practicalities of prison life and prison programmes. And it helped me understand my place in the world and activated me as a civically minded person. I go to bed around 9 or 10. And she said, well, welcome to college. TATRO: So I actually graduated with my BA after I was released from prison. The majority were first arrested as minors. They come to us for essay-writing classes and math tutoring so that they can prepare to get into the program themselves. And one day, we went to a karaoke bar, and a fight erupted, and somebody ended up losing his life. Tell me how the experience compared with what you expected. Shot over four years in maximum and medium security prisons in New York State, the four-hour film takes viewers on a stark and intimate journey into one of the most pressing issues of our time our failure to provide meaningful rehabilitation for the over two million Americans living behind bars. They love the Bard Prison Initiative. James Wiley committed a heinous crime at 15 years of age. And then I came to crave it more and more. NOVICK: Yeah, pretty much. You are Korean American, right? So let's just listen to this. As you will see in the film, there's tremendous potential among incarcerated people. College Behind Bars, which airs on PBS Monday and Tuesday night, offers TV audiences a rare window into the U.S. correctional system. Creating educational opportunities in prison nationwide. DAVIES: And that's Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon from the PBS documentary "College Behind Bars," which premieres tonight on PBS. (Speaking Korean) Thank you. Men and women seek college degrees - and a chance at redemption - while incarcerated. Ive got to say, this is the worst part of Sunnyside: its very competitive. 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. And I think the answer is no. And I think we should just start being really clear about the scale of the commitment, first of all, that we're making to you and, secondly, that we expect of 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. CAST OF CHARACTERS Im ashamed to say this, but I people-watch. And I want to play a clip here. In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act made people in prison ineligible for Pell Grants. Prison has the worst coffee, oh, my goodness thats one of the things I think anybody would tell you. You got this education, and you're trying to help people now. I recently binged born behind bars on A&E and was looking for any kind of update on these mamas/babies. I may watch Netflix, but I generally just read. So once that happened, almost all those programs vanished - went from about 800 programs to fewer than 10. According to records, James murdered his stepmother and three stepbrothers in cold blood. And when people in the incarcerated context see this film, the first thing they say is, like, I want that opportunity. And they really love to engage the professors and each other, and that was true for every single class. Who has access to educational opportunity? 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. Hold on. So I grew up in Flushing, Queens. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "COLLEGE BEHIND BARS"). I'm interested in your take on this - whether vocational programs should be there. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. And, you know, they're like, strip. The vast majority of people in this country that are incarcerated are going to be returning to society. So that was, like, really, really kind of humbling to see that type of support from the general population. I have several friends who are still incarcerated that I spent my summers outside of class tutoring, and they're now in the program. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. Dyjuan, what's it been like connecting with your family again? I hope you'll join us. 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? Yoon and Tatro both entered prison as teenagers, and both earned bachelor's degrees in the Bard Prison Initiative. And so yeah, that is a huge impediment to trying to learn. 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. 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. You can just see this intellectual blossoming. And before the 1994 Clinton crime bill, there were college programs in almost every correctional facility in America. 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. The students have a quite impressive breadth of curriculum. 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. Now that Im thinking about it: more often than not, Im recognizing that the Twin Towers is not part of that skyline anymore. We're going to start coursework Monday morning. By Tyler Kendall January 17, 2020 / 2:19 PM / CBS News Dameon Stackhouse was several years into his. When that door closes, you're at Bard College. Now he wants to help kids avoid prison. And with time, as we become scholars, the idea that we should be limited to just vocational training just becomes absurd. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're discussing the new four-part PBS documentary "College Behind Bars." 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 remember telling my professor that, how can I complete an eight-page paper if I feel like I could complete it in only two? To learn more about the restoration of TAP, read Jessica Neptunes the Director of National Engagement blog post here & Executive Director, Max Kenners, letter to our supporters here. Ill get up and just sit in silence in my apartment.. James Wiley. What Happens When Incarcerated People Get a World-Class Education? Accuracy and availability may vary. Great to have all of you. But the Allens still have mixed feelings about free degrees for inmates. Your purchase supports PBS and helps make our programming possible. The Residency leads to an ongoing community of practice that builds on over a decade of cultivating a nationwide network of leading universities and colleges in the field, through the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison.