"College Behind Bars" Screening

*Unfortunately, due to coronavirus concerns, this screening has been cancelled. We hope to hold it in the Fall 2020 semester and will update this page accordingly.*

 

Join the Ethics Institute on Tuesday, March 17th for a screening of the documentary "College Behind Bars." The event will take place in Coates 152 from 5 to 7 pm.

College Behind Bars tells the story of a small group of incarcerated men and women working to earn college degrees in one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the United States - the Bard Prison Initiative. Shot over four years in maximum and medium security prisons in New York State, the film takes viewers on a stark and intimate journey into one of the most pressing issues in our criminal justice system - our failure to provide meaningful rehabilitation for the over two million incarcerated Americans. 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 America's criminal justice crisis.

College Behind Bars raises a number of ethical questions about both higher education and incarceration in the United States. Who in the United States has access to educational opportunity and higher education? In what ways is the answer to this question connected to mass incarceration in the United States? Is public resistance to state funded higher education for incarcerated people justified? What is prison for? If the United States prison system is meant to be a "corrections" system, what role ought "rehabilitation" play in that system? What is rehabilitation, and what role can or should higher education play in it? 

We will view portions of the full four-hour documentary. A discussion moderated by Dr. Chris Wells will immediately follow the film.