Contact Hudson Link

Hudson Link
P.O. Box 862
Ossining, NY 10562

Tel: (914) 941-0794
Fax: (914) 941-8215
info@hudsonlink.org

Hudson Link
Board of Directors

President
Bruce Macleod

Vice President
Maxine Yee Baker

Secretary
Jeanne Malter Liebmann

Treasurer
Christina Carmona

Hudson Link Directors
Iris Cordero
Beverly Davis
Helen Dillon
Rev. Russell H. Feroe
Christian French
David Fried
Walter LaRaus
Denise Lawson
Dr. Anne Reissner
Michael Zweig

Emeritus Directors
 Dr. Rosemarie Murray

Staff

Executive Director
Sean Pica

Academic Coordinator
Arlene Mohammed

Administrative Assistant
Gabriela Economico

Presentations

Hudson Link Staff and Board Members are eager to let your organization know about our program and how you can help unleash the transformative power of education. We will be happy to send a speaker to your church, synagogue, or community group to help you learn about Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison. If you are interested in scheduling a speaker, please contact our office at hudsonlink@verizon.net or (914) 941-0794.

The Hudson Link Story

The story starts with the Attica riots back in the '70s. One of the promises Rockefeller and others made was that more educational opportunities would be provided to prisoners. Thus, New York State agreed to fund college programs at all the New York State prisons. By the early 1990s, New York State had produced reports showing that the higher the education level of an former inmate, the less likely he/she was to go back to prison.

Cut to March of 1995: following the lead of the U.S. Congress that voted that convicted felons could no longer apply for Pell Grants for higher education, Governor Pataki and other "tough on crime" politicians stopped all state funding for college programs in the state prisons.


Hudson Link's first graduating class.

In 1998 inmates at Sing Sing who knew the devastating effect that the lack of college programs was having on prison morale approached religious and academic volunteers for help. These volunteers founded Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison to restore college degree programs at Sing Sing with private funding. Hudson Link's first classes began in June 2000 with 22 students taught by Nyack College faculty. Eighteen of these men completed that program and graduated with bachelor degrees in Organizational Management on October 18, 2001. Beginning in June 2001, Hudson Link’s program expanded to include thirty-five inmates enrolled in classes offered through Mercy College. Additional men were subsequently admitted to bring the student group to seventy-five men. Twenty men received Mercy College degrees on June 2, 2005.

Sing Sing is located on the Hudson River-just "up the river" from New York City. Hudson Link acts as a link between the Sing Sing administration, the colleges involved, and funders who provide the money for textbooks and teacher salaries, etc.

A copy of Hudson Link's latest annual report may be obtained, upon request, from Hudson Link or from the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, Attn: FOIL Officer, 120 Broadway, New York, New York 10271.