In March 2026, the Center for Prison Education and Research was honored to host the Human Rights Film Series at West Virginia University. Attendees watched part of the documentary film, College Behind Bars. Directed by Lynn Novick and produced by Ken Burns, the 2019 PBS series tells the story of men and women who have earned college degrees while incarcerated. After the film, the audience participated in a discussion with two panelists, Darryl Byers-Robinson and Celeste Monette Blair.
A founding member of the Bard Prison Initiative debate team, Darryl helped his team to win a now-famous debate with Harvard University and was featured in College Behind Bars. Today, he works as the Site Coordinator for Georgetown University’s Prison and Justice Initiative. Like Darryl, Celeste’s participation in prison education initiatives like Inside-Out and the Appalachian Prison Book Project has shaped her trajectory outside of incarceration. An artist and a writer, Celeste is now a faculty member of Prison Professors and the founder of the Peer Success Re-Entry Collective.
Katy Ryan introducing panelists at film screening of College Behind Bars
As guests entered Ming Hsieh Hall, they were encouraged to take a piece of paper and a crayon of their choosing. Each sheet of paper was printed with the words, “Education is…” at the top, and we asked guests to write (or draw!) their responses to the prompt. “Education is giving yourself an opportunity to reach your full potential,” one reads. Others define education with words like freedom, liberation, magic, and power. “Education is,” writes another attendee, “a means of opening the mind to possibility.”
Spread across a table at the front of the room were artworks by students who participate in WVU prison education programming as well as letters received by the Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP) from people in prison. The room buzzed with conversation as guests looked at these beautiful artifacts.
Bonnie Brown, a professor of Native American Studies at WVU and coordinator of the WVU Human Rights Film Series, introduced the event and Katy Ryan who directs the Center for Prison Education and Research. Katy, in turn, introduced the panelists, Darryl and Celeste, as well as the graduate students who helped to organize the event, Danielle Stoneberg and Bailey Meyerhoff.
Darryl and Celeste each responded to the documentary and answered questions posed by attendees. They emphasized the power of education, especially for those incarcerated. According to Darryl, “education has been a springboard for success.” Celeste noted, “Even after I was transferred and separated from APBP, I carried it in my heart and in my intentions for many years.” And, when asked what specific books have been important to their growth as thinkers, Darryl responded by saying that Michel Foucault kept him from sleep for a week and made him understand power in entirely new ways, while Celeste cited the poetry of Adrienne Rich and books of self-improvement as crucial to her intellectual development.
After the guests and panelists were thanked for their participation and the event officially ended, people lingered in Ming Hsieh for a long while; they talked and laughed with one another, they came to the room’s front to explore the arrayed artwork and writing, they thanked us for a beautiful evening—and we collected the “Education is…” papers. “Education is,” one reads, “for you and me!”