The Beyond the Bars Initiative is comprised of:
1.) an annual conference, which takes place in the spring. The mission of the Beyond the Bars conference is to widely disseminate the Center’s approach to center justice on prevention and healing through panel discussions, workshops, community building, and performance art.
2.) a fellowship, whose members include students, community members, and people directly impacted by incarceration. The mission of the Beyond the Bars fellowship is to give fellows the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of mass incarceration and social change, to support the efforts of local organizations, and to connect with others in the movement.
Beyond the Bars Conference
The Beyond the Bars Conference is an annual student-driven interdisciplinary conference on mass incarceration held at Columbia University. Each year the conference brings together students, faculty, activists, advocates, practitioners, those who have experienced and/or been impacted by incarceration, community members and more to connect, galvanize, and deepen the work of building justice and equity and ending mass incarceration.
Learn more about the Beyond the Bars Conference
Beyond the Bars Fellowship
The Beyond the Bars Fellowship offers students and community members an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of mass incarceration and social change. This interdisciplinary leadership program aims to bring together a diverse group of Fellows to further develop their leadership skills. Fellows gain a theoretical and practical understanding of mass incarceration, including its origins and its widespread personal and societal consequences. Fellows are introduced to various models of social change while having an opportunity to interact with and learn from community activists, organizers and academics.