He was accepted to the Bard Prison Initiative's post-secondary education program, where he joined BPI's debate team, which drew national attention after they defeated the group from Harvard University. Clarksville Now Contributed Magicians Jeff and Kimberly Bornstein will bring their magic show to the Roxy Regional Theatre on February 14. Im not used to having anyone take anything from me. Student Shawnta Montgomery spoke inspiring words at her graduation ceremony: "Inside the walls of a classroom, you escape the walls of a cell and you become an individual again." Montgomery was graduating from the Bard Prison Initiative program, featured in the new PBS and Ken Burns documentary, College Behind Bars. Left: Giovannie Hernandez attends the special screening of COLLEGE BEHIND BARS at The Apollo Theater on November 12, 2019 in New York City. That youve got to hit the rock-bottom moment? he said, reflectively. But, of course, Ill run a background check on you. Tamika Graham, 17 Coming home hasnt been easy for me, and I am still on that journeyand happy to be here celebrating this film and our BPI family. The house on Hudson Avenue is rented to Cindy Maxwell, 36, who said she knows German from church. This is one of the very few issueswhere Republicans and Democrats are agreeing that action is necessary.. Ad Choices. But I studied hard and attended several programs while I was in jail. Shawnta Montgomery and Tamika Graham. And then you get to know the person, as opposed to the audition. They have to be sleeping under a bridge before they can officially be classed as homeless. In the late nineteen-nineties, Page came upon the empty Catholic girls school. benefiting from their contributions as advocates and leaders. And at about the third floor it caved in and the guy said, Wow! We are here because of the compelling stories of those that have been impacted and the fact that their stories of transformations and impacts aren't exceptions, they are the norm, Jones said. In prison, Rivera recalled, he helped care for sick inmates during the height of the AIDS crisis, and he has done the same sort of work ever since. God, she was good!. Giovannie Hernandez, 17 Achalkboard is filled with Chinese symbols in a room filled with eager students in green jumpsuits. December 09, 2019 03:36 PM Student Shawnta Montgomery spoke inspiring words at her graduation ceremony: "Inside the walls of a classroom, you escape the walls of a cell and you become an. The vast majority of participants have never experienced an education that called upon them to ask these questions. As the car pulled up to the Castle, a group of residents, all masked, were waiting on the steps. If thats what you want, to hang outthats not the place for that. After E. speaks, it would be a brave visitor to the computer room who tried to make it the place for that.) It reminds me of when I was in group therapy, years ago, and I strongly disliked another member of the group. Facebook gives people the. Thats the one who will do you the most good! the therapist said. There are Puerto Ricans in my life who are pro-TrumpI wish I didnt understand them. Webb was laughing. She represents a lot of Americans who are worried about the outrageous cost of education, and where our tax dollars are going. Youll lean! Log In or Sign Up Shawnta Montgomery See Photos Shawnta Montgomery See Photos Shawnta Montgomery See Photos Shawnta Montgomery See Photos Shawnta Montgomery Its hard., Rivera grew gentler: Can I talk about that? It wasnt always this way. Montgomery was ordered back to Nassau County criminal court on Feb. 18, officials said. And he said, flatly, Sixty per cent of those kids are going to prison. Were still not fixing the problem or even addressing it. The headcount which drags prisoners back to their cells five times a day is disruptive enough, but the constant noise and unrest means that a lot of the students work from late at night until early in the morning; it is the only time that they can trust they wont be interrupted. We have some of the people with the worst records in New York City coming for active services, but no metal detectors. Truck driver killed when tractor-trailer falls from highway overpass, Investigation finds concerning money trail in NYC guardianship system, WTC Health Program adds uterine cancer to list of 9/11 illnesses, JetBlue plane bumps into another aircraft in JFK Airport's gate area, Mega Millions ticket worth $20M sold in the Bronx, 2 Americans among 72 killed in Nepal plane crash: US state department, NYC public-sector nurses rally to jumpstart contract talks, Attempted robbery ends in shooting at Hell's Kitchen smoke shop, After 14 failed adoptions, 'Ronald' the dog finally finds forever home, Incriminating Google searches revealed in missing MA mom case, Party City files for bankruptcy amid rising prices, ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream. Client Services Associate at Brooklyn Community Bail Fund. Sam said, Youre going to have the same river view, and, to make a long story short, it happened. Youre going to declare that its as low as youre going to let yourself go. Like, for realI did that, and I didnt do what I would normally do. We all know what we could do. After 25 years of incarceration, my journey and successes are directly attributable to the opportunity I had to get an education. People say Hepburn and Tracy. But youre gonna lose it. Astudyfrom RAND estimates that for every $1 invested in the program, the country saves five dollars in re-incarceration costs over three years. The most effective argument at the time (and likely today) is that taxpayer dollars should not subsidize free college for criminals, especially when the majority of the nation cannot afford it. being firm in the corner, Easy kibbitzing from the side, Rivera went on. Youre gonna lose your freedom. And I was with one of my mentors, watching these great little kids playing in this playground. Shawnta Montgomery Pictures . Directed by Lynn Novick and executive-produced by Ken Burns (maker of the celebrated 1990 series The Civil War and many others, including last years Country Music), it follows several prisoners of New York states Eastern Correctional Facility a maximum-security prison for men and one at Taconic Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison for women. Being on the debate stage against Harvard was unforgettable. The Castle began when we kept seeing that there was an urgent need for housing for people released who became homeless, JoAnne Page, the president and C.E.O. You can get addicted to education. He got no response. Im a program associate at the ford foundation with the gender, racial, and ethnic justice unit, bringing directly impacted experience to philanthropy. I got my job and my apartment is a motto of success. You chose to handle it. . To the right, a line of older residents, looking a little worn out and a little wise, fill the chairs. But applicants are screened for current risk of violence, not a history of violence. Theres nothing you could do., Heres the deal, Rivera said. At the Castle, you never ask anyone about the reason for his imprisonment. For the longest time, I really didn't understand the value of education. There is still so much work to do, to make sure access to higher education behind bars is fully restored, to put an end to mass incarceration, and to make our country live up to its values. These happen often because there are many rules, and because immersing yourself in The Oresteia does not automatically or immediately make you a model prisoner. The crime is not who you are, its what you did. David said once, to a journalist who asked, How can you work with these violent criminals?, Well, how would you like to be identified for your entire life by the one worst thing youve ever done? The theatrical side of the Castle is self-evident to its sharper-eyed residents. But my job is saving lives now. Still, Rivera admitted that he had decided to leave long before the protests started. Student Shawnta Montgomery spoke inspiring words at her graduation ceremony: Inside the walls of a classroom, you escape the walls of a cell and you become an individual again. Montgomery was graduating from theBard Prison Initiative program, featured in the new PBS and Ken Burns documentary,College Behind Bars. A makeshift desk made from cardboard is placed over a sink in a cramped cell. Actually, Shirley Booth did the play on Broadway., Later that day, Hilton Webb texted Rivera, saying that he would begin to think less about education and more about independence. Its changing fundamentally the way I think, behave and interact with people, says Dyjuan Tatro (the eukaryotic expert). We hadnt addressed his trauma adequately, he said. Shawnta Montgomery Crew Member at McDonald's New York City Metropolitan Area 2 followers 2 connections Join to connect McDonald's Experience Crew Member McDonald's View Shawnta's full profile. There is now bipartisan legislation before congress to restore Pell eligibility for people in prison. Ill accept you any way you are. The charges each carry a potential penalty of up to 25 years in prison. The crime is what you did. ROOSEVELT, NY Police have charged 20-year-old Shawnta Montgomery, of Roosevelt, with first-degree manslaughter. Rothenberg takes a late lunch or an early dinner most days at Trufa. They argue that post-secondary education behind bars will lower the likelihood that an individual returns to prison and that it will benefit society as whole. Thursday meeting is a mandatory, semi-sacred gathering of the Castles eighty or so residents, all of whom have been incarcerated, some as recently as earlier in the week, along with people who once lived there or who would like to live there. Were now making statements.). Housing programs for an offenders rentry into the community usually involve a bewildering array of bureaucracies, and often result in former inmates being placed in halfway houses and homeless shelters that replicate the conditions of prison. For BPI's more than 550graduates, the recidivism rate is2.5%, the institute said. Yet, there is one intrinsic benefit to the classical studies Bard Prison Initiative students undertake: They grapple with texts and are drawn into stories that speak of the age-old struggles of the human condition. And youre calling me at midnight about this because? I said. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Near the end of one mock interview, the questioner said, You seem like a fine candidate for the job. Phone Number: (757) 237-IJJT. All rights reserved. Then come back up. Youll trip, but you wont fall. First-year students at Eastern Correctional Facility. Could I work with her? Giovannie Hernandez says a friend forced him to apply for the programme after Hernandez got his GED (an alternative to the high school diploma) on Rikers Island. Incarcerated at 17, Jule Hall spent more than 20 years in prison and is one of the main figures in the PBS documentary, which airsMonday and Tuesday. Dont wait to hit bottom before you start working your way back up. (The computer room is not a place to come to hang out, he announced as one meeting began. Nationally, about 68% of inmates released from state prisons were rearrested within three years of release, according to a Justice Department study. 4,221 Followers, 4 Following, 172 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Nourished by Shawnta Haircare (@nourishedbyshawnta) nourishedbyshawnta. There was a brief pause. (If you call someones bullshit poetry, they wont be that offended, even if youre telling them you dont want to hear it.) On this evening, for instance, someone used a formula familiar from twelve-step programs: You have to hit bottom before you can come back up. This sentiment went around the room with echoing fervor. Hegemony. Obviously, we have to reform the system and end the problems, and put fewer people in prison, he said. They are investigating who owns the weapon, he said. Elitha Smith-Lutz You know The Green Pastures, the movie? The 1936 film relates Bible stories as Black American folklore. Im not going to expel someone for smoking marijuana. Rivera discreetly pointed him out to Rothenberg. I realize I hear it often, I was gonna lose it on this guy. Whats it mean for you?, Rage! Rivera echoed. Partly through the osmosis that teaches all of us our dialectsnobody has to tell a quarterback to say It was a team victory; he absorbs the words when he starts playing footballthe residents use many cautious voices and tenses to narrate their movement through a hostile world. What is justice? When a client had confronted him, Rivera hugged the man, literally, until the confrontation ended. Why does power corrupt? The coronavirus pandemic hit the Castle hard. So thats my work, finding the foundation that remains. Today, I am the Chief of Staff at the Bronx Defenders. Yet I know that Sam wasnt afraid, and he could have whipped this guys ass. . You did. There was an endless line of men snaking up the stairs of this theatrical building. In 2005, more than a decade after the ban,there were just 12. It was not immediately clear who her lawyer would be. It brings the same academic rigour, standards and expectation of commitment and engagement to its imprisoned students as it does to the rest. 'You don't know what you did for me': Released from prison by Obama, now on the dean's list. A pregnant 20-year-old Long Island woman has been charged with manslaughter in the death of her 2-year-old daughter. Instead of congratulating him, Rivera exclaimed, You gotta accept that getting one degree is enough. He reminded Webb that the point of the Castle was to get out of the Castle, and that the choice of when to leave would not always be left to the resident. Montgomery was arrested Sunday. I ran Thursday meeting for years, and then Stanley didthe Fortune vice-presidentand then Sam, Page said. Sam watches the simple things that improve the outlook, improve the humanity. HiltonN.Webb, Jr., another long-term resident, sixtyish and intensely serious, who is studying for a masters degree in social work, and writing a memoir titled Dancing in the Midst of Nothing, said, Whatever Sam says is going to happen, its going to happen. The film trails Hall, a2011Bard Prison Initiative graduate whoearned a bachelor's degreein German studies, as he navigates the parole process, is released from prison and enters the workforce. One student, Rodney Spivey-Jones, nearly loses everything when a guard takes exception to the language used in one of his short stories and deems it a punishable offence. How do you know youve hit bottom? As AEI scholar Gerard Robinsoncommented,The right thing to do is not only give them a second chance, but to also admit the fact that many of them didnt receive a first chance at school.. Program Specialist Open Society Foundation. That changes everything., The residents of the Castle admired Rivera for being as reliable about small things as he was about big ones. Yeah, theres a line, I think its from there, that I always repeat. Shawnta Montgomery, another BPI alum, works as a peer recovery coach at the Fortune Society, a New York City nonprofit group focused on integrating formerly incarcerated individuals back into. The right answer is Clintonesque: I try too hard to get it right.) A young man who wants to be a restaurant cook is guided through an interview in which it becomes apparent that he doesnt know much about cooking. Alelur Duran, Dyjuan Tatro, Giovannie Hernandez, Ken Burns and Wesley Caines attend the special screening of COLLEGE BEHIND BARS at The Apollo Theater on November 12, 2019 in New York City. We become civic beings, says Woon. We live in our own minds. I enrolled in BPIs first cohort and graduated in 2009. (The right answer is: I love to work with others.) Whats your greatest weakness. Jumaane Williams And now I totally respect it, because there are elements in my life right now that I wish I didnt understand. With self-confidence comes motivation, an eagerness to want more for yourself, your family, and an opportunity to be more than you thought you were capable of, thus leaving strong potential to set an example for the next generation and end the cycle of incarceration. Founder and Executive Director of BPI. If I wait for the world to be better, then the whole society would have to change, and I dont have a long enough life to wait for that to happen., At a Thursday meeting a couple of weeks later, a recent home-comer praised another Castle client for gently urging him away from a confrontation with someone who pushed himor whom he perceived to have pushed himon the subway. BPI students are felons serving long sentences for serious crimes. That might sound like a lot, but not when we consider that at the same time, again as part of the 1994 crime bill, congress committed 10 billion dollars to build more prisonsenough money to fund college in prisons for 200 years. As the sociologist Erving Goffman wrote in the nineteen-fifties, A status, a position, a social place, it is not a material thing to be possessed and displayed; it is something to be enacted and portrayed. That idea is profoundly relevant to the work of the Fortune Society. Vivian Nixon The documentary provides a fascinating window into the initiatives prison classrooms: Classic Greek literature, Shakespeare, history, writing seminars, Chinese. has shaken up the countrys politics. Alienation. Max Kenner For the first time in more than two decades, a push to lift this ban is sparking bipartisan support. Kinzel said. Shawnta Montgomery, another BPI alum, worksas a peer recovery coach at the Fortune Society, a New York City nonprofit group focused on integrating formerly incarcerated individuals back into society. This story has been shared 100,523 times. Its hard, but its rewarding, said BPI participant John Gonzalez. I submitted my resignation today.. Montgomery was. t should not be strange to hear prisoners talk about. After the passage of the 1994 Crime Bill, Pell Grants were banned for those who are incarcerated. "There is some indication to us, which we are investigating, that there had been notifications to authorities in the Virginia area," Azzata said. It should not be strange to hear prisoners talk about The Oresteia or Moby-Dick or eukaryotic cell structure but it is. I know and you know, so why dont we pretend the fight is over and move on?. "This isn't about giving people in prisonsomething new," Brumfieldsaid. And sometimes people of color introduce themselves that wayI was in prison. But thats not you! Nobody told me about the brick. He paused. Davids idea of a whisper is putting his hands over his mouth and then yelling, Rivera said in the middle of a meeting, after Rothenberg, doing just that, had urged him to move on from some stalled subject. Instead of spending $80 billion a year to lock people up, lets build communities and create a world that is more fair and less racist.
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