What to Watch: College Behind Bars
What should you watch this week?
As scrutiny on prisons rises, in part due to the Black Lives Matter movement, many are questioning whether prisons are a genuine form of rehabilitation or if they are simply punitive state violence. Following the Tough on Crime laws of 1994, co-authored by none other than the new president of the United States, Joe Biden, people began to be incarcerated at a higher rate than ever before. Although this bill had multiple promising provisions such as funding to investigate violence against women, the tracking of sex offenders, and banning federal assault weapons, it also widened the scope of crimes punishable by the death penalty and eliminated higher education for incarcerated individuals. Any person in a federal or state prison was no longer permitted to apply for Pell Grants - which for many, eliminated any possibility of achieving higher education. This legislation was approved despite the fact that a college education was one of the most effective ways to reduce recidivism (Prison Studies Project).
College Behind Bars, a new Netflix docu-series, explores the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) in two prisons in the state of New York. Each episode connects the watcher with a different aspect of the college and the struggles and successes of the students. The first episode comments on the initiative as a whole, highlighting the work of the students in the classroom. The second focuses more on the individuals, their relationship with their families, and the ways BPI is impacting their lives. The third episode moves towards BPI’s involvement in the community, featuring the preparation of a debate between BPI and Harvard. The final episode concludes with the seniors presenting their senior theses and the graduation ceremony for all AA and BA seeking students.
One thing that has stuck with me almost a month after finishing this docu-series was a concept that echoed throughout the series: for many of the students, they had never been encouraged to think for themselves. At BPI, these individuals were students, not prisoners, and were held to the same standards of any other Bard College student. Despite the fact they had to do all research without the internet, were only allowed to use a computer to type their reports, sometimes had their books confiscated, and were degraded as much as any other individual in the prison, they still completed their assignments, went to class, and engaged in fruitful and complex discussions.
This series will make you question your opinions surrounding prisons, the people who fill them, and the true purpose of prisons themselves.
For more information, check out College Behind Bars on Netflix or the BPI website listed here: https://bpi.bard.edu/our-work/the-college/
