Read what the students, teachers, and supporters who make up the Hudson Link community have to say about why prison education matters.

Friends and Supporters

Ossie Davis, Late Actor and Activist
When we as slaves—4 million people—came from the pens of slavery, we knew in our hearts that the way to translate ourselves from what slavery had made us into what America offered—was education. Give me a book and I’ll show you I’m a man equal to you. It is education that has made the difference and continues to make the difference. EDUCATION! EDUCATION! EDUCATION!

Rev. Dr. Bill Webber
I did more inspirational, exciting, creative, challenging teaching at Sing Sing than at Harvard or Union…A line from Paul to the Ephesians is the message I brought to Sing Sing: Live now where you are. God has intended that you live with significance and seek well-being where He put you.

William Boyle, former Hudson Link Board Member
Thousands of ex offenders are released every year. Would we rather they gain the skills to succeed on the outside through higher education, or do we want to take revenge by denying motivated, eligible men the opportunity to improve themselves? Well, the cost of re incarceration is about ten times the cost of college! Safety and practicality dictate the best option. The choice is ours.

Brian Fischer, Commissioner, NYS Department of Correctional Services
Three things must come together for an individual to change: willingness, commitment, and resources. All three come together in Hudson Link…I’ve watched these men grow…These inmates study in small cells, surrounded by noise and distractions…There is no college like the college at Sing Sing…In the end, everybody wins by permitting inmates to attain a college degree…The inmates know they cannot change their past; what they can change is their future. [These graduates] are leaders, role-models. They leave better men than they came in. I for one respect you for it.

Teachers

Andrew Warren, Professor, Mercy College
I quickly realized that the men I met on the inside were not only not the feared individuals that most everyone had warned me about, but among the kindest, most perceptive, while at the same time, most courageous people I had ever met. Later on as I got to know some of them better, I discovered that some of them were gifted writers and poets, wondrously articulate and disarmingly insightful. Yet, frankly, of all these qualities, the one that has impressed me the most is their ability to let go, to move on, and not dwell on setbacks, to cleanse themselves of anger and self-pity.

Beyond reducing incidents in the prison and recidivism on release, college for inmates changes long established expectations and relationships time is used not just served. Inmates become colleagues not competitors. Leaders are created not resented. The children of inmates are proud, not ashamed…

Neal Keller, Computer Teacher for Hudson Link
College in prison is a good idea for the same reasons it is a good idea anywhere. College allows the student time for disciplined self-reflection; it affords the student a chance to reinvent himself. That benefit is in addition to any professional training that college might afford someone. In prison the opportunity to pursue a difficult long term goal is extraordinary. The lessons inmates learn about perseverance and systematic approaches to problems just to arrange their lives so that college is a possibility are worth whatever is spent on programs.

For our society college in prison is a good thing because inmates will be released. An inmate who has had his ambition thwarted at every turn is less likely to avoid crime than an inmate who had the opportunity to become educated; to defer gratification; to become aware of his own potential through the hard work of meeting the demands of a college program.

Students

Angelo Hunt, Student
I have often heard people ask: “What would you be willing to die for?” The same answer has always entered my mind: I would die to save someone I love. However, a better question might be: “What would you be willing to live for?” Unfortunately no one has ever asked me that, but if asked, I would say an education is what I live for.

When I was told I would not be able to complete my college education due to the closing of the medium annex of Sing Sing, I felt crushed. I packed what few belongings I had and “moved” to Fishkill Correctional Facility. It was a surprise to none when I began doing emotional cartwheels when—after a month—I was asked if I wanted to return to Sing Sing to complete my degree. Some acquaintances thought I was crazy for volunteering to go from a medium facility back to a maximum one. Those people believed I was sacrificing a certain freedom that comes from being in a medium: showers, unescorted movement through the facility, a “better” commissary, etc.

Those men had it all wrong. None of those “perks” meant anything to me. They could not help me to become a better person, nor could they help me to get home to my children any sooner. To stay at Fishkill would have been the sacrifice. I would have given up my education, and I could not see myself making that kind of sacrifice. Education is my avenue to self-empowerment; education is also the only thing in prison that gives me gratification, enjoyment. Now no one has to ask me what I live for. They don’t have to because the answer is evident in my actions.

Gregory Brown, Student
With the recent closing of Tappan (Sing Sing’s annex for medium classification inmates), I was one of approximately twenty men enrolled in the Hudson Link/Mercy College program who was transferred to another facility. Consequently, I was one of twenty men who temporarily lost a remarkable opportunity to improve through education. Thankfully—through the efforts of numerous concerned people—every man enrolled in the Mercy College program who was affected by Tappan’s closing was offered a second chance to continues his education.

I received confirmation of that opportunity while I was housed at Fishkill Correctional Facility. The second my counselor asked if I wanted to go back to Sing Sing for the college program, time stopped. I struggled with uncertainty as I pondered the ramifications of the question. I want education, but could I psychologically endure a second “tour” of Sing Sing? I was content being away from that place. The choice was serving time with men doing life bids versus serving time with men doing a few months in many cases. I told the officer I would like to go back for the college program.

I chose to return because I believe education can mean the difference between a life of crime and a productive life. My educational level can influence whether my twin sons aspire to be criminals or whether they have the self confidence to pursue occupations that challenge their minds. It is crucial that I counteract the label of being a criminal that has been affixed to my name. I chose to return because I witnessed how education transformed my outlook on life for he better. It removed my pessimistic view, and, consequently my behavior changed to reflect my perspective. I came back to Sing Sing for me , but I also returned because I want my loved ones—and the people I have hurt—to know I am sincere about the changes I have made in my life.

My decision to return to Sing Sing for college is not—by far—without sacrifice. In fact my wife and mother do not concur with my choice. They support my pursuit of mental and spiritual elevation; however, their concern is for my safety. The sacrifice is: walking a recreation yard that is surrounded by rifle towers as opposed to walking a recreation yard with shade trees. The sacrifice is: showering two to three times per week for five minutes versus having daily showers. The sacrifice is: being locked in a six by nine foot cell, 15 hours per day as opposed to being able to move around within the parameters of the prison. The sacrifice is: racing three hundred men across the recreation yard for access to ten phones so I can hear my sons’ voices versus having a phone available for collect calls 7 days a week. The list could go on and on.

Nonetheless, I chose to go back because there is something beautiful there which can help me to be what I truly aspire to be and that something is a college education. For the second “second chance” I am sincerely grateful.

Inside Sing Sing

Friends and Supporters

Teachers

Students