Bard College has undertaken the transfer and enrollment of college-in-prison programs from two universities that closed earlier this year.
The Annandale-on-Hudson school announced that its Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) has absorbed the college-in-prison programs from Medaille University and Alliance University, a pair of private New York universities. Medaille enrolled incarcerated students in degree programs at Albion Correctional Facility for women while Alliance worked with men at Fishkill Correctional Facility.
BPI, which enrolls incarcerated students in Bard College associate and bachelor”™s degrees across seven New York correctional facilities, has offered Medaille and Alliance students immediate enrollment as transfer students. As a result, 80 former Medaille and Alliance students enrolled with BPI, alongside 122 students through standard admissions, creating the largest single expansion of BPI in the program”™s history.
Bard noted that as a result of this acceptance of additional students, more faculty and additional courses were added to the BPI program. As the transfer students leave prison, they will be eligible for BPI re-entry and alumnus support services, which will require the program to expand its capacity on that front.
Commencement at Fishkill Correctional Facility. Photo by Karen Pearson / Bard College
