College Behind Bars

College Behind Bars is a 2019 American television documentary series, directed by Lynn Novick, which originally aired on PBS. It focuses on the lives and academic careers of inmates in the Bard Prison Initiative.^[1][2]

College Behind Bars
Genre	Documentary
Directed by	Lynn Novick
Composer	Jongnic Bontemps
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer	Ken Burns
Producers	Lynn Novick Sarah Botstein Mariah Doran Salimah El-Amin Stephen Sowers
Cinematography	Nadia Hallgren Buddy Squires
Editor	Tricia Reidy
Original release
Network	PBS
Release	November 25 (2019-11-25) – November 26, 2019 (2019-11-26)

Synopsis

Incarcerated individuals at Eastern Correctional Facility and Taconic Correctional Facility are studying for either BA or AA degrees from Bard College as part of a prison education program. The documentary highlights important feats and milestones in the incarcerated individuals' college careers such as their thesis defenses, graduation, and victory over the Harvard debate team.^[3]

Reception

The documentary received generally positive reviews. Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "it's so humane and emotional that it will probably have you brushing away tears as you're pondering bigger questions."^[2] Hank Stuever of The Washington Post called the documentary "inspiring" and Ashlie D. Stevens of Salon wrote "[one] of the strongest elements ... is that it assesses all the complexities of education in the prison system."^[4][5]