Emerson Prison Initiative Graduates Celebrate a New Chapter in their Stories

When Ray Colón ‘25 applied to Emerson College through the Emerson Prison Initiative as part of the program’s first cohort, he knew he’d be in for a lot of work and less free time. But reflecting back on his college experience in his cap and gown, degree in hand, he said the experience far exceeded his expectations.

“It was just so much more, because it challenged me,” said Colón, one of seven newly minted Emerson alumni who were celebrated at a commencement ceremony for EPI graduates, their friends, and family, held at Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk on Friday, June 13.

“I came into this with a black-and-white mindset, even though I was well-read prior to college, having read over 500 books in prison alone,” he said, but the program “gave me nuance.”

“The way that the degree is designed … allows me to navigate today’s world, the structure of it, and even though I’m behind the wall, I don’t see that as a limit,” said Colón, who added that it’s taught him how to better advocate for himself and others and build community within the prison.

Colón and six graduates from the second cohort of EPI, one of the few educational offerings of its kind in Massachusetts, received bachelor of arts degrees in Media, Literature, and Culture. Colón, Peter Bin ’25, Marcus Blanton ’25, Soi Ket Dang ’25, Ryan Pezzini ’25, Edker Rock ’25, and class speaker Maxwell Wiggins Jr. ’25, join 11 men who previously have received Emerson degrees through the prison initiative, many of whom have since been released and attended the ceremony to support the new graduates.

The program, launched in 2017 at MCI-Concord and now based at MCI-Norfolk, offers a rigorous liberal arts education to admitted students who are incarcerated in the facility. They enroll in courses taught by faculty from Emerson and surrounding universities, and are held to the same academic standards as traditional college students, without many of the resources, such as internet access, of a typical college experience.

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EPI acts on the knowledge that college-in-prison programs can interrupt cycles of incarceration and contribute to personal and community transformations.

Massachusetts Department of Correction Commissioner Shawn Jenkins said that the DOC releases 80 to 90 people into their communities every month, and praised programs like EPI for helping to make those transitions successful.

“I can’t think of anything more important or anything that [better] serves … public safety … than making sure that people that are leaving our custody are prepared for life beyond our walls,” Jenkins said.

New this year, EPI also will offer scholarships to Massachusetts Department of Correction officers and their families to help them pay for post-high school educational programs.

In his address, President Jay Bernhardt told the graduates that education shifts perspectives, deepens understanding, and awakens hope.

“That’s why access to education matters. Because brilliance can reside anywhere. Because progress must include everyone, and because the pursuit of knowledge is an act of resistance against despair,” Bernhardt said. “Let this moment remind you of what is in your power. You are the authors of your own story, and this chapter written with your determination, insight, and belief will echo far beyond this day and this place.”

College access can’t solve everything in a world filled with pain and suffering, said Associate Professor and EPI Founding Director Mneesha Gellman in her address to the graduates, but it “helps us see that we are not helpless in the face of it.”

“You have created a powerful, palpable community of mutual support. You care for each other, you show up for each other, you mentor each other within and across cohorts, with potential applicants to EPI, and with others. Cellmates, work colleagues, cultural group members notice there is something different about you, that you spark, because you are living an engaged life, a cultivated life of the mind,” Gellman told them.

In his address, Wiggins, who was unanimously elected class speaker by the rest of the cohort, recalled staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning to write a research paper, and being congratulated by a correctional officer.

“The education provided to me helped me expand my ability to think deeply and at greater length,” Wiggins said. “I could go on and on about the things that Emerson has done for me, but all you have to do is take a look.

“To everyone who told me what I’d never be or what I would become, this is what I have to say to you: 3.98 grade point average. College graduate… To embark on this educational journey within the carceral regime is inherently a revolutionary act, and in the words of one of our great freedom fighters, Fred Hampton, ‘I am a revolutionary.’”

Most of the seven graduates gave a brief address during the ceremony. All of them touched upon the ways their education transformed them.

Bin, who shared the Spirit of Emerson Prison Initiative Award with Colón, said when he was younger, he didn’t have a strong sense of identity or belonging. His Emerson education allowed him to understand his role in society and how to build a community and a sense of self-determination.

“Too often, people in my position have their narrative told by someone else,” Bin said. “I don’t know if you understand the pain of having someone label you something you’re not. Though today, I accept and own this new label as an Emerson graduate.”

Marcus Blanton highlighted the tools he acquired as a college student and how they have impacted his life.

“These tools allow me to sit in spaces where I once was uncomfortable. I communicate with confidence. I have no problem taking leadership roles in and out of the classroom. … Emerson is not just a college, it is a family that I can count on when I need help. A family that treats me with respect and as an equal,” he said.

Pezzini, who later was presented with the Award for Academic Excellence, said that while it is was the seven graduates who were being celebrated during the commencement ceremony, the benefits of their education will ripple out to those whose lives they touch.

“Ultimately, our families and the communities we live in will also benefit, and that’s the beauty of education. Doors are open to us now that once were closed. I know that each one of us will do great things with the gift we have been given,” he said.

Pezzini’s words echoed Gellman’s address, in which she catalogued the ways education has and will continue to change how they relate to their families and friends, and the inspiration they provide to others to complete their own educations and write their own stories.

“Even from here, you have managed to become role models. You have big ripple effects on people around you, and those effects will keep rippling long after you receive your diplomas and figure out what comes next in your intellectual and creative journeys,” she said.