Learning and Hope in Sing Sing

As new colleges go, the statistics are pretty impressive: 196 graduates in 10 years, current enrollment of 107, and a waiting list two-and-a-half years long.  This is no ordinary college, though; it’s the one taught at night to inmates at Sing Sing, the famed New York prison.  And here’s the most impressive statistic of all: of the 196 graduates, 41 have been released – and so far, not one has returned to prison.
That’s precisely what this college is all about – offering encouragement and redemption to its students in a way that few schools do.  It’s called the Hudson Link, and it offers a bachelor of science degree to those who complete its arduous workload. In other institutions the degree can be a ticket to a lifetime career; here it’s a symbol of hope, a reminder that each one of us, no matter how imposing the challenge, is capable of great things.
Peter Applebome of The New York Times attended this spring’s graduation ceremony and provided a report on the evening, one that included this comment from a 2009 graduate: “You can become roadkill here.  If you don’t believe you have options, you can’t move forward.  But this program is all about hope. It’s given me a new life.”
Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison is funded by private sources including individual donors, among them Doris Buffet, sister of investor Warren Buffet. She was at the ceremony (as was her brother) and explained why she’s such a passionate supporter. “I’m not a do-gooder; I’m not flaky,” she said. “I believe in this because it works. No one can leave here unconvinced.”
The program began in 1998, after the government discontinued education grants to convicted felons.  The ban satisfied some who believe in full-time punishment only, but at the same time it killed off many projects that taught courses behind prison bars.  In Sing Sing, Hudson Link restored the private classes – at first through New York’s Nyack College, and for several years now with faculty members from Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.  Students attend classes while fellow prisoners have a recreation period.  The minimal tuition fees come from prison work assignments.
With limited library facilities and no Internet access, the surroundings could easily discourage individual students. That’s not the case, however. Instructors described them, in Applebome’s words, as “curious, focused, hungry to learn.”
“These men are extremely motivated,” he quoted one English professor, Jo Ann Skousen.  “They’re always in class on time, always prepared.  If I assign one act of a play, they’ll have read the whole thing.”
“Prison is the place where faith is tested,” said Felipe Luciano, the commencement speaker, a former prisoner and now a journalist.  “You are here because you were there.  But if you pass this, you are good to go.”
No one is under any illusions, Applebome reported; most students face long sentences because they’re in for murder.  Still, he said, “Graduates reflected stark acceptance of what they had done wrong, and gratitude for the transformative experience in a place where hope often goes to die.”
Here, for a number of inmates – thanks to the generosity of donors, and to the efforts of a few dedicated teachers – hope lives.