The OG at Six New York State Prisons

Nicholas Wright volunteers at the Bard Prison Initiative to teach classes for convicts

Professor Nicholas Wright is helping to stop the cycle of incarceration through his classes. Photo by Marco Chilese on Unsplash

Six New York State prisons know Nicholas Wright as the OG: Original Grammarian. Wright had no idea what to expect when joining the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) as a professor, but becoming the OG was the last thing on his mind. 

“During my first class ever, I had planned about an hour’s worth of work for a two-hour class and barely made it through that content,” Wright said. “They tested me by firing questions about grammar at me for a good hour.”

550 students have successfully graduated from the BPI, so these students now know to trust BPI to help them receive a Bard Associates degree. Students get a well-rounded education that reflects the programs offered on the main Bard campus through required seminars, college writing classes and a senior thesis project.

150 prisoners apply for the program each year, each sitting down to write an essay about a philosophical passage and ending with a formal interview of the top scorers on the essay. The end cohort is generally 17 students. 

Wright heads into the prison twice a week for two-hour sessions. He goes through security checkpoints that he describes as similar to TSA checkpoints at the airport. A corrections officer brings him through a sea of green uniforms to the designated building for the BPI classes. 

“Part of the reason for teaching there is because you have to believe that people deserve second or third chances,” Wright said. “You are not the judge. You are the teacher.”

As an English professor at Marist College, the Cooking Institute of America and SUNY New Paltz, Wright teaches grammar and rhetoric at BPI. He finds that students strive to become better, continually asking to resubmit assignments and expecting him to take advantage of every minute of their two-hour sessions.

“When I started at the prison, it gave my work more of a serious note and a deeper feeling,” Wright said. “ It helped remind me why I wanted to teach in the first place.”

He also hopes that as he helps his students become better communicators, his students can help the prison system improve. Their talent for writing and speaking could help break the stigma and expectations created by television.

“It would be lovely to see more discussion between current incarcerated people and the officers or the supervisors to talk about ways to improve the experience,” Wright said.

When New York state legalized cannabis in March 2021, the question of what would happen to the convicts behind bars for minor marijuana possession was raised. Many were set to be released, but there are still those who were convicted on minor drug charges and that are still in custody. Therefore, Wright believes there needs to be a reevaluation of their sentences to give these individuals an opportunity to change.

Still, Wright will be forever grateful for the experience to touch the lives of those who are incarcerated, many of whom he gets to watch succeed once they finish their sentence. He has heard about his former students doing everything from starting charities to help other formerly incarcerated individuals succeed, to continuing on to get their Ph.D. or even starting after-school programs to help children avoid the same fate. 

“I’m helping them see that their brains are awesome,” Wright said, “and that they have to believe in themselves and work a little hard to succeed.”