Bennington College Prison Education Initiative
The Prison Education Initiative (PEI) brings Bennington College faculty to Great Meadow Correctional Facility, a maximum-security men's prison in Comstock, New York. Our mission is threefold:
- to provide a quality liberal arts undergraduate education to incarcerated students
- to support lifelong learning in men and women serving life sentences
- to foster transformative conversations around prison reform in America
Since PEI’s inception in 2015, the program has served more than 100 students at Great Meadow Correctional Facility, offering courses in literature, philosophy, social research, history of thought, architecture, political theory, social psychology, math, computer programming, drawing, Latin, and U.S. and world history.
Interviews with Class of '22 Graduates
PEI celebrated its first graduation at Great Meadow eight years after the program launched; eleven students were awarded their Bennington College Associate of Arts degrees. Here are a few of their stories:
Recent News
- May 11, 2023 – C-SPAN: About Books on Higher Education in Prison
- February 8, 2023 – Bennington College celebrates first graduating class from the Prison Education Initiative
- February 7, 2023 – Prison Education Initiative Celebrates $100,000 Grant from Mother Cabrini Health Foundation
- December 1, 2022 – Reading by Reginald Dwayne Betts at Great Meadow Correctional Facility
- October 21, 2022 – Think Tank on Continuing Education in Prisons, part II
- April 13, 2022 – Bennington College Awarded 2022 ACLS Sustaining Public Engagement Grant
More News
- January 31, 2022 – Bennington College prison program awarded $60,000
- October 1, 2021 – Think Tank on Continuing Education in Prisons
- May 20, 2021 – Bennington College Awarded $10,000 Grant From The Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation
- February 24, 2021 – Prison Education Initiative Awarded $40,000 from Mother Cabrini Health Foundation
- March 23, 2020 – Prison Education Initiative Awarded $50,000 from Ford Foundation
- January 22, 2020 – Prison Education Initiative to Award Associate of Art Degree
- April 6, 2018 – Computer Science and Prison Reform
- June 19, 2017 – The Future of Higher Education in Prison
- August 28, 2016 – Great Meadow Program is a Model for Inmate Education
- August 21, 2016 – Books Behind Bars: Great Meadow Inmates See School as Second Chance
- July 11, 2016 – Bennington Selected to Participate in the Department of Education's Second Chance Pell Pilot Program
- December 4, 2015 – Bennington Gears up for its Prison Education Initiative
Contact
pei@bennington.edu
802-440-4727