Bard Prison Initiative Executive Director Max Kenner ’01 Speaks with WJFF Radio Catskill
Executive Director of the Bard Prison Initiative Max Kenner.
Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) Executive Director Max Kenner ’01 was interviewed by WJFF Radio Catskill for a program about the conditions within New York’s prisons after the prison guard strike earlier this year. Kenner spoke with Julia Kim, a host of Radio Catskill, explaining that the pause on programming since the strike has negatively impacted educational opportunities. “For us in New York, it’s a special tragedy,” said Kenner. “We did more than anyone else over the last 25 years to restore college in prison after it was destroyed in the middle 1990s, to make education, once again, a central part of what we do. [Now] we have a more depleted system of college [in] prison that’s in desperate need of repair.”
Kenner has led the Bard Prison Initiative since he cofounded it as a Bard undergraduate in 1999. He holds the Tow Chair for Democracy and Education at BPI. He is also cofounder of the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, which supports colleges nationwide to establish their own college-in-prison programs.
Post Date: 09-02-2025
Kenner has led the Bard Prison Initiative since he cofounded it as a Bard undergraduate in 1999. He holds the Tow Chair for Democracy and Education at BPI. He is also cofounder of the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, which supports colleges nationwide to establish their own college-in-prison programs.
Post Date: 09-02-2025