Sean Pica, the Executive Director of Hudson Link, and a Hudon Link graduate, screened the movie The University of Sing-Sing, about the program on November 4, 2014.

The film brings viewers inside the walls of the Sing-Sing Correctional Facility, where some 1,700 men serve out lengthy sentences, often for violent crimes. Many of the inmates have found hope, and a new state of mind, through Hudson Link, a privately funded non-profit organization that offers college courses and the opportunity to earn a diploma.

Watch the people who make Hudson Link successful

Immersed in an intensive academic curriculum, the prisoners bring insight and enthusiasm to the classroom. Their hard work culminates in an emotional graduation, where their tenacity is an inspiration to all. Through interviews with professors, students and their families, this illuminating film reveals the true value of education, and its ability to give those in need a second chance. They are no longer the men who ended up in prison, one professor insists. They are new people, transformed by education.

Pica brought along fellow program graduates, Todd Young (now a counselor at Hudson Link) and Chris Peyton, along with Emily Patka (Academic Coordinator).

The event was coordinated by Chair of the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, Emily Horowitz.