Reimagining college, transforming prison

The Bard Prison Initiative extends the full breadth and depth of the Bard College liberal arts curriculum into six New York State prisons. BPI creates and protects academic spaces where students and faculty engage in ambitious college coursework, challenge one another intellectually, and build supportive community.

Students undergo a selective admission process, enroll full-time in the same courses that they would on Bard’s main campus, are held to the same high standards as all Bard College students, and graduate with Bard College degrees. BPI students discover new strengths and direction that often fundamentally alter their relationship to themselves, their communities, and the world in which we live.