Politics & Prose at Busboys and Poets 14th & V welcomes Daniel Karpowitz to present their new book "College in Prison: Reading in an Age of Mass Incarceration."
Karpowitz, a lecturer in law and the humanities at Bard College, is the director of policy and academics for the Bard Prison Initiative, which began as a student-run program in 1999, and since 2001 has offered a liberal arts education to inmates in several high-security New York state prisons. Now a nationwide network, BPI has educated hundreds of individuals, conferring degrees in subjects ranging from higher mathematics to Mandarin. Drawing on his extensive experiences as both an administrator and one of the program’s instructors, Karpowitz discusses the larger issues of mass incarceration, rehabilitation, and the value of the liberal arts. He also takes readers into the prison classrooms, documenting teachable moments, introducing the students, and demonstrating the value of high expectations.
