College in Prison

The documentary engages with a crucial, and difficult subject matter. It introduces the viewer to primarily four men who had all been given varying sentences of incarceration between 1994 and 2003. Alongside the story of their incarceration, however, is another story, one of hope and upliftment. The film deep dives into a bachelor’s degree program in California that began with the intention of not only giving degrees to inmates but also allow them a second chance at life.

As the documentary's subjects take us into their journey of reform and eventual rehabilitation within society, they use words like “reenergized”. They speak of a life they never thought was possible for them, and lastly, and more significantly, they speak of breaking the cycle of injustice, violence, and crime that had previously seemed unshakable.

Through the scenes of prison life and the world beyond as well, the film presents how dehumanizing the experience of incarceration can be, often depriving inmates any and all chance of reclaiming their humanity in society. It engages with ideas of redemption and hope, alongside internal prison politics, the subsequent networks, and a sense of brotherhood that it can conjure.

The overarching message of the film remains one of the freeing power of education, and the influence it exerts on not just one aspect of existence, but in the formation of culture altogether, alongside the significance of community effort in uplifting human society as a whole.