Boston College Prison Education Program

The U.S. has less than 5% of the world's population but nearly 20% of its prisoners. If you're not critical about these numbers, you're not doing it right.

Felony Murder: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) John Oliver discusses felony murder, a way you can wind up in prison for murder without actually killing anyone, and why Cillian Murphy won an Oscar, not his...

Find Free & Affordable Food Assistance Across Boston and MA (no SNAP required!) Copy and paste any of the links below ⬇️ 🌱 Heal the Hood: https://vanilla-smilodon-ttwt.squarespace.com/home 🥖 Too Good to Go: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/ 🥬 Neighborhood Food Action Collaborative Resource Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S5KYFIGQAm6Z71KYtgn2uTKanl-M-84EnQ3Yy5BzL1M/edit?usp=sharing 🍛 Find Help: https://findhelp.org/ 🍅 Allandale Free Farmers Market: https://jamaicaplainnews.com/2025/10/28/allandale-farm-offering-free-farmers-market-for-those-losing-snap-benefits/683370 🥕 Project Bread: https://projectbread.org/ 🍞 YMCA Mobile Markets: https://ymcaboston.org/mobilemarket/ 🥦 Freedge (Community Fridges): https://freedge.org/locations/ 🫛 Longer List of Food Assistance Resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DET5MC3Fn8aHBBN-4o0w1-aAoqb-evRLmCcwBq42eI0/edit?usp=sharing ✨ No ID or proof of income required for many of these options. ❤️ Share to spread the word. Nobody in our community should go hungry. (Huge shout out to BCPEP Grad Assistant Hannah for putting this valuable and timely resource together ❤️ 🦅) #SNAP #community #FoodForAll #foodinsecurityawareness #BCPEP #higheredinprison #prisontocollegepipeline #consortiumfortheliberalartsinprison

Thank you Senator Jamie Eldridge! Your support and attendance means a lot to all of us!

Thanks, too, to Ved Price, Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison, Massachusetts Department of Correction Commissioner Shawn Jenkins, Dr. Anna Haskins, Rev. Zach (Founder of Thrive for Life Prison Project), and Directors of the Forum for Racial Justice at BC Joy Moore and Fr. Gregory Kalscheur! And, of course, Alumni Nurudeen Alabi for everything he continues to do to support BCPEP!

We are grateful to our panelists for engaging so meaningfully with the topic of reentry and to the Boston College community for showing up and showing out - we are also grateful for our partnership with MCI-Shirley, where we were able to hold the same event for BCPEP students on the inside.

Together, we can do great things. Thank you!

On October 20th, we were thrilled to welcome the country’s first Black-owned ready-to-eat meal prep company, MacroBites, to Boston College!

Brought together while incarcerated, the MacroBites team works to "promote health and well-being through mental health, physical health, and nutrition."

With a restaurant in New Jersey, where they work with local charities to feed those in need, MacroBites also runs a nationwide meal prep business, delivering fresh, ready-to-eat meals with balanced macronutrients to support convenient, healthy living.

Owners and founders David Lewis, Jarette Atkins, and Fritz Georges joined Nurudeen Alabi, BC '25, for a 'fireside chat' about entrepreneurship, community, and making the world a better place one bite at a time.

A big thanks to Professor Brian Harrington for putting this event together, and to Start at Shea for hosting.

A huge thanks to MacroBites, too, for taking the time to visit both the Chestnut Hill campus and the BCPEP campus inside MCI-Shirley.

Follow MacroBites and check out their website for tasty way to support a great cause: https://macrobites.com/

((If you weren't able to attend, check out the event recording here: https://bc.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=a988e2e5-6152-4d64-9ac9-b3710131271b ))

Looking back with gratitude for our hardworking graduates, partners, and higher education community for making this ceremony possible 🦅

Boston College - Woods College of Advancing Studies Bard Prison Initiative Massachusetts Department of Correction

BCPEP Graduation 2025 | Part II 🎉🎓 For the people working tirelessly behind the scenes, this post is for you! To the BC faculty making the weekly commute to teach at MCI-Shirley ~ To Meghan Crowley and the team at MCI-Shirley who facilitate and embrace our presence at the prison ~ To MA DOC, including Commissioner Shawn Jenkins, for helping to make events like graduation a reality ~ To Max Kenner, Jessica Neptune, and all our friends at the @bard_prison_initiative for their valuable support ~ To our @BostonCollege communities, including @bcwoodscollege, who not only invest in BCPEP student success but champion the program and its prison-to-campus pathways ~ To our donors, whose generosity continues to ripple outward, far beyond BCPEP classrooms ~ To @lolamillz5 , whose amazing photography consistently captures the heart and soul of what BCPEP is all about ~ And finally, to Director Patrick Conway, Assistant Director Michelle Brooks, and Program Assistant Molly April, whose long hours and commitment to BCPEP students make everything possible ~ THANK YOU. Here's to the many hands and hearts that carry this work forward. And, of course, another hearty CONGRATULATIONS to our incredible 2025 graduates! ❤️🦅 #BCPEP #BCPEPstrong #higheredinprison #consortiumfortheliberalartsinprison #bardprisoninitiative #bostoncollege

Thank you Governor Maura Healey for your support!

And thank you to Alix Hackett at Boston College News for your thoughtful coverage of program updates, always!

Find the most recent BC News article, along with a press release from Mass.gov, linked below. Both talk about our new partnership with MCI-Framingham, and both name the systems transformation that happens when we choose to expand college access to incarcerated students ❤️ 🦅

BIG LOVE to our supporters, our partners, our students, and our friends doing this work across Massachusetts and beyond. We're grateful for the opportunity to grow our program and our family.

Ascendium Education Group Bard Prison Initiative

BC News: https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2025/fall/bc-prison-education-program-expands-to-women-s-facility.html #:~:text=The%20Boston%20College%20Prison%20Education%20Program%2C%20already,the%20medium%2Dsecurity%20prison%2C%20funded%20by%20a%20$100%2C000

Mass.gov: https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-department-of-correction-and-boston-college-announce-expansion-of-undergraduate-program-to-mci-framingham

Massachusetts Department of Correction and Boston College Announce Expansion of Undergraduate Program to MCI-Framingham Incarcerated Individuals Earn Credits Toward Bachelor’s Degrees in Applied Liberal Arts Upon Completion

We’re excited to announce an upcoming event on the main Boston College campus, hosted in collaboration with the BC Forum on Racial Justice in America.

“Life After Incarceration: A Panel Discussion on Reentry, Justice, and Belonging”

📅 Monday, November 4, 2025
🕓 4:30 p.m.
📍 Robsham Theater, Boston College

Director Dr. Patrick Conway will be moderating the discussion, which will include participation from BCPEP students currently studying on campus, alongside an incredible lineup of panelists (including Ved Price, Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison and recent Roadtrip Nation spotlight interviewee, Dr. Anna Haskins, Associate Professor at University of Notre Dame, Reverend Zachariah Presutti, Founder for Thrive for Life Prison Project, and Shawn Jenkins, MA DOC Commissioner). This is a wonderful opportunity to witness and engage in meaningful dialogue across a variety of expertise and professional backgrounds.

We are equally excited to share that we will to be mirroring this event inside MCI-Shirley earlier the same day, ensuring that all BCPEP students—regardless of incarceration status—can engage with the panelists and dialogue. Thank you to our partners for making this a reality! Massachusetts Department of Correction

Our hope is that this event will inspire more opportunities to bring conversations about college in prison & reentry to the BC community. Please attend if you can, and help us spread the word by sharing with your networks! Robsham Theater has plenty of space—let’s fill it!

📢 This event is free and open to the public! Please come show your support!

CONGRATULATIONS BCPEP CLASS OF 2025! 🎓✨

On Thursday, September 18, BCPEP celebrated our newest alumni: Michael, Tony, Anthony, & Sulayman.

Family, friends, donors, MCI-Shirley staff, & partner program supporters from Mount Wachusett Community College, Partakers College Behind Bars, and the Jesuit Prison Education Network gathered to honor their trailblazing achievements.

The ceremony mirrored any other college commencement, in a large tent filled with chrysanthemums, banners, faculty in full regalia, and underclassmen cheering for their predecessors. The Huntington Brass Quintet opened with "Pomp and Circumstance," followed by loud cheers as grads appeared - and extra applause for honorary member Andoni, Tony's service dog in training, who wore a tiny graduation cap. 🐾🎓

Asst. Director Dr. Michelle Brooks opened with congratulatory messages from Chestnut Hill students, and Fr. Gregory Kalscheur, Dean of Morrissey, led the invocation. Heartfelt remarks followed from Senator Jamie Eldridge, Boston College Provost Dr. David Quigley, Boston College - Woods College of Advancing Studies Dean Dr. David Goodman, and Massachusetts Department of Correction Commissioner Shawn Jenkins, who spoke to the transformative power of college in prison.

Next, Director Dr. Patrick Conway reminded us that we expand what is possible when we choose to believe in education, each other, and second chances. Guest speaker Max Kenner, Founder and Executive Director of the Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College, made the moment even more meaningful by noting that such a ceremony was unthinkable 20 years ago.

Most memorably, graduates took the stage to accept accolades and share reflections. Valedictorian Michael delivered an address that transcended traditional speech, flowing like a sermon with the cadence of spoken word poetry. Tony, recipient of the Social Justice and Community Impact Award, spoke to human possibility, telling us that we are all worth more than the worst thing we have ever done. And Anthony, winner of the Excellence in Liberal Arts Award, pledged to use his degree to protect and uplift others, exemplifying BC's Ignatian mission. We can't share details about the fourth grad for privacy, but are incredibly proud of his achievements.

Photos by