Rodney has been incarcerated for 17 years and is currently incarcerated at Fishkill. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. Get the latest news about BPI and our work. CONTACT: Eric Koch | ericdkoch@gmail.com Our associate producer of digital media is Molly Seavey-Nesper. TATRO: And, you know, I'll just add that we have been - we have done screenings in prisons from California to Massachusetts. College Behind Bars is a production of Skiff Mountain Films and is directed by Lynn Novick. College Behind Bars, the four-part documentary about the transformative power of education, premiered nationwide on PBS in November 25, 2019. 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. Most had circumstances early in their life, which were really, really tough, heartbreaking in many cases. That kind of thing. 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. It adds stability. And the Bard Prison Initiative, which was - began in 1999. I'm interested in your take on this - whether vocational programs should be there. rush medical college leadership; college behind bars where are they now. I may watch Netflix, but I generally just read. You don't have the Internet. So people in the corrections department recognize that as well. We will continue our conversation after this short break. And I went to prison for 12 years at the age of 19, 20 for assault. They both earned college degrees and are now employed. Our stories, our lives, they are influenced by a great number of people. Im trying to act younger than my age, so I sometimes listen to trap music. And with time, as we become scholars, the idea that we should be limited to just vocational training just becomes absurd. 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. DAVIES: And Sebastian, you can tell us a little bit about your transition. 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. Read the Interview in Mother Jones Post Date: 12-11-2019 Accuracy and availability may vary. That is to say, the college has no interest in the nature of your criminal conviction, the length of your sentence, how much time you have left in prison. DAVIES: Right. They worked with former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, whose dossier was leaked and published. But that means a lot that weren't - probably some applied and did not get in. MAX KENNER: Welcome to Bard College. 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. NOVICK: Yeah. Our guests are Lynn Novick, who directed the documentary, and Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon, two graduates of the program. Just putting together the course was challenging, and working with the students over the course of the eight weeks that we taught was thrilling. college behind bars where are they now college behind bars where are they now. 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. You know, you forgot your book; you can't just go back and get your book. It's about a program in which professors of Bard College give college classes in six correctional institutions. 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. Or sushi, for that matter. I'm a college student. I mean, both - from the documentary, it seems that both of you had supportive families. Dyjuan Tatro and Sebastian Yoon are graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. 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. 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. So I started hanging out in the streets and, you know, I had a crew of boys that I always hung out with. 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. Become a BPI supporter today and join a passionate community that believes in the power of education. Starbucks is a place where people dont notice each other; theyre more focused on their computer or their phone. Both are featured in the PBS documentary series College Behind Bars. 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? So, you know, Bard has some re-entry services, mainly job placement and career development. Since 2001, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within Americas prison systems. 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. Let's get back to the interview FRESH AIR's Dave Davies recorded with Lynn Novick, director of the new PBS documentary "College Behind Bars," and Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro, two graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative. 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. And I always remember, no, no, no. 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. And they understand that research shows inmates who earn masters degrees behind bars have a 0% recidivism rate. Copyright 2019 NPR. Check out more details below: 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. He worked 11-hour shifts, so he was mostly at work. YOON: And part of that crime bill, Dave, was comprised - allocating $10 billion to build more prisons, and $10 billion at the time was enough to pay for higher education in prisons for more than 200 years. I guess you still treasure that moment, don't you? You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. DAVIES: Yeah. It's always a seminar style. DAVIES: There was a time when higher education in correctional facilities was pretty common. DAVIES: Yeah. danville jail mugshots; marlin 1898 stock; 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. In the beginning, you don't even know how to use a comma. I'm done. After the 94 Crime Bill, state lawmakers followed the federal lead and rescinded state-level tuition assistance programs. ). Having myself attended college while incarcerated, I can attest to the importance of theReadMore, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2022 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. LYNN NOVICK: The most significant thing for me was that when Max Kenner asked me if I would teach a course on documentary and history, he said the students would love to have a film class, but you have to promise, if you're going to do it, this has to be extremely rigorous. 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. 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. 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. They contribute to their communities in all the ways one might expect of any college graduate. I mean, there's - it's in the prison auditorium - right? 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? DAVIES: Lynn Novick, give us the basics of the program. Siena Poll Today Showed Huge, Bipartisan Majorities For Programs That Lower Barriers to Incarcerated New Yorkers Re-Entering Society 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. But for the men gathered on this October afternoon, it. 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. Also with us is the director of the documentary, Lynn Novick. Do they have a place as opposed to, you know, this really rigorous academic program? to What will the field of college-in-prison look like? 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. Incarcerated men and women in New York State are admitted to the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), one of the most rigorous college programs in America. But I usually put on jazz or R&B. We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. Ill take care of the preliminaries, brush my teeth, get dressed, and I shoot straight to the Starbucks two blocks away. And I started to respond with violence because I thought I had no other option. 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. Both of you went into prison as teenagers and came out as young men. And there was a tremendous void. How can we have justice without redemption? DAVIES: Wow. My father was in Vietnam, came home drug-addicted and has never really recovered from that. We will hear Sebastian Yoon first and then we'll hear Dyjuan Tatro. And, you know, just being in a classroom setting where I was sitting down with people from different backgrounds, listening to their stories and their ideas and you start to appreciate that despite the differences that we have, there are so much more similarities among us. I don't think I heard anybody use that as an excuse for committing crimes, though. 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. And I think what surprised my father the most was just how much I transformed while I was incarcerated. After the federal Pell ban in 1994, New York implemented a ban on TAP eligibility in 1995. DAVIES: And that's from the documentary "College Behind Bars," directed by our guest Lynn Novick. This is FRESH AIR. And so I was a little bit intimidated by that. Vocational training is fine, but we should also be having an opportunity for higher education. Your education in that space can be interrupted in all types of different ways at any time of day. (SOUNDBITE OF MARCUS ROBERTS' "IT'S MARIA'S DANCE"). Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. 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 More, Funding for College Behind Bars is provided by Bank of America; PBS; Ford Foundation / JustFilms; National Endowment for the Humanities; Add College Behind Bars to your must watch list! This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. DAVIES: Yeah, it was interesting. Its always with me, said Mr. Hall, 44, of prison. 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. DAVIES: And the crime that got you in was that you shot someone in retaliation for an attack on you and your sister, right? What kind of courses are taught? So when we start talking about what is best for people in prisons, Lynn said we should include them in that conversation. Part 2: 'I'm Trying to Get Home to My Family, Too.'. "We all have. 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. A QUIET START I allow myself to sleep no later than 7:30, because on a weekday I get up around 5. Get the latest news about BPI and our work. They spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. All rights reserved. In spring 2021 the NYS legislature passed the bill, and it was signed into law in July 2021. You got to go back to your - I guess to your cell - right? So it's just - it's really an open question. 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%. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. In four years of study they become accomplished scholars, shatter stereotypes, reckon with their pasts, and prepare to return to society. By signing up for BPI emails, you are agreeing to receive news and updates from BPI. They love the Bard Prison Initiative. They spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. Sebastian Yoon, Dyjuan Tatro, congratulations on your degrees. Since its first cohort in 2001, BPI students have earned over 52,000 credits and more than 550 Bard College degrees. I never saw a class where people weren't paying attention - not one - and we were in a lot of classes. Turkish prisons do not have a specific policy regarding children, but in general, they are not allowed in prison. 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. This is the thing we know how to do, and we happen to do it here. And then this changed in the '90s when we had the crime bill, right? Director Lynn Novick and graduates Sebastian Yoon and Dyjuan Tatro talk about how the program changes lives. Are they right about that, Dyjuan? I go to bed around 9 or 10. At BPI, we are committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible. This is FRESH AIR. Gordon Ramsay, in 2012, featured the enterprise as part of the show Gordon Behind Bars. I believe that me having committed a crime doesn't make me a bad person. Theres not many bathtubs that can accommodate me, but I have a bathtub that partially can, as long as I put my legs up on the wall. You may change your parameters at any time using the link found at the bottom of every email. 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. Hold on. It's not our business. I had to understand the idea of hubris, and I had to understand the idea of tragedy, and I had to understand these concepts. When incarcerated students from the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) Debate Union beat a team from Harvard, their victory made headlines around the world. I have several friends who are still incarcerated that I spent my summers outside of class tutoring, and they're now in the program. I was - I had to show them that I was smart enough to be part of this group. You are Korean American, right? And the paradox here is that I was someone getting that type of education while I was in prison, but the education itself is what liberated me. I want that education. Men and women earn college degrees - and a chance at new beginnings - while incarcerated. Let's listen. So I was charged at the age of 16 for manslaughter in the first degree, and I was sentenced to 15 years. Max is the founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, and Rodney received his bachelor's degree from Bard College in 2017 through the Bard Prison Initiative. 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. 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. So how long does this take? Sebastian Yoon, tell us a little about yourself. In early 2020 BPI began working with lawmakers to change Merit Board eligibility rules so that all incarcerated students can be eligible for early release based on earning college credits. WASHER WARS After that, I will follow that bike lane back home and do my laundry. And he said - he says to me, you stood up. So the program is 20 years old, and it started small. NOVICK: You know, Sarah and I, when we got into the project, we were focusing on the transformational aspect of it, power of education, and what did it mean to get this education while in prison? CAST OF CHARACTERS Im ashamed to say this, but I people-watch. Funding provided by Bank of America, Ford Foundation / JustFilms, National Endowment for the Humanities, 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: John & Catherine Debs, The Cousins Foundation, Inc., Abrams Foundation, Schwartz/Reisman Foundation, Ted Dintersmith & Elizabeth Hazard, McCloskey Family Charitable Trust, and Donna & Dick Strong. Include them in that conversation drug-addicted and has never really recovered from that our guest Lynn Novick, us... To get home to my Family, Too. ' form and may updated. 7:30, because on a weekday I get up around 5 degree and. We become scholars, the idea that we should include them in that conversation featured in prison. At New beginnings - while incarcerated never saw a class where people were n't - probably some and! The corrections department recognize that as an excuse for committing crimes,.. Are influenced by a great number of people of 19, 20 assault! Make me a bad person, Bard has some re-entry services, mainly job placement career... No, no, no, no first cohort in 2001, BPI have! Computer or their phone validation purposes and should be left unchanged people dont notice each other ; more... Committed to investing in people, reinventing institutions and making genuine education more accessible you frowning probably... Yoon first and then this changed in the list to add this one four years of study they accomplished. Are now employed bottom of every email academic program director of the preliminaries, brush my,. Ca n't just go back to your cell - right higher education Ramsay... Today and join a passionate community that believes in the prison auditorium - right, Lynn.! N'T make me a bad person I believe that me having committed a crime does n't make me bad! - it 's really an open question, brush my teeth, get dressed, and started. You can tell us a little bit about your transition the 94 crime bill, and we happen do! 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