Bard College provides extension courses to inmates at (less than prestigious) Eastern Correctional Max Facility in New York. The inmate's Debate Club recently took on National Debate Champs from Harvard and............... whupped 'em.
Not an easy road either. The Inmates were tasked with defending a position with which they would normally disagree, and debate the topic without access to the Internet and other facilities available to the Harvard Debate Teams - When you follow the links - please note the VERY gentlemanly comments of the Harvard Team in their defeat!
A great statistic in these reports -- only a 2% recidivision rate for these Bard College Grad ex-cons --- as opposed to the 68% of the average released prisoners.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/07/harvards-prestigious-debate-team-loses-to-new-york-prison-inmates
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/07/living/harvard-debate-team-loses-to-prison-inmates-feat/
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