Max Kenner: how prison education gives hope

Max Kenner, founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative in the United States, discusses the impact of prison education with Sarah Brown. As he says, ‘nothing does more to create a sense of hope and purpose in otherwise desperate places than the opportunity to learn’. 

A leading advocate for his cause, Max’s programme enrols jailed men and women in academic courses that culminate in a degree from the prestigious Bard College in New York. 

He has a battle on his hands to make the case for prison learning in a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, which sees 630,000 prisoners released annually, only for nearly 50 per cent to end up back in prison within five years.