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
Bennington College’s Prison Education Initiative (PEI) has been awarded a grant of $60,000 from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.
The Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation has awarded Bennington College a $10,000 grant to support the Incarceration in America think tank that will be held October 1-2, 2021.
Bennington College’s Prison Education Initiative (PEI) has been awarded a grant of $40,000 from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.
Bennington College’s Prison Education Initiative (PEI) has been awarded a grant of $50,000 from the Ford Foundation.
Bennington College has received accreditation from the New England Commissions of Higher Education (NECHE) to award a Bennington College Associate of Art degree to incarcerated students through its Prison Education Initiative (PEI).
Contact
pei@bennington.edu
802-440-4727