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College Behind Bars 2x52, 4x56

“An extraordinary portrait of students in the prison system” – Point of View Magazine

“College Behind Bars is persuasive and compelling as an argument for prison education reform (and general across-the-board prison reform), but more than that, it’s so humane and emotional that it will probably have you brushing away tears as you’re pondering bigger questions.” — The Hollywood Reporter

“Advocates increasingly recognize that we cannot end mass incarceration without transforming our societal response to violence. College Behind Bars presents an unusually complex portrait of men and women convicted of such crimes.” — Vulture

College Behind Bars, a documentary film series directed by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Novick, produced by Sarah Botstein, and executive produced by Ken Burns, tells the story of a small group of incarcerated men and women struggling to earn college degrees and turn their lives around 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 of our time – the failure to provide meaningful rehabilitation for the over two million Americans living behind bars. 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. It raises questions we urgently need to address: What is prison for? Who has access to educational opportunity? Who among us is capable of academic excellence? How can we have justice without redemption?