It's not surprising that Harvard University's debate team are national champions. 

But it is a little surprising that America's premiere debaters lost in a recent contest against a team of inmates at New York's Eastern Correctional Facility, right? Actually, not so much...

Bard College has been offering liberal arts classes at their local prison for over a decade now, and the program is a massive success. The Bard Prison Initiative is privately-funded and designed to offer inmates a top notch education to help them with finding meaningful work once they're released.

Whereas about 40% of people released often end up locked up again very soon, less than 2% of Bard Prison Initiative students have returned. 

And Harvard is only their most recent win. 

The inmate debate team has also defeated, rematched, lost, and subsequently developed a friendly rivalry with West Point's prestigious debate team. 

For the match with Harvard, the Eastern Correctional Facility team was asked to defend the assertion that public schools should be allowed refuse enrollment to undocumented students, an idea that the team did not support. 

Their approach boiled down to the idea that if public schools were allowed to refuse enrollment, private schools and other institutions may step in to fill the void, which would actually provide undocumented students with a better education.

Three judges agreed that Harvard's team did not cohesively rebut the Correctional Facility team's points, awarding the inmates the victory.

via The Guardian

This is more than just a debate win; it's a win for the Bard Prison Initiative. 

With programs at six medium and maximum-security prisons, word is spreading of the efficacy and value of the initiative; and here's to that number rising.

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[via The Guardian]

[Feature Image Courtesy of The Nation]