LEWISTON — Bates College will screen “First Degree” as part of its College Guild chapter, which helps prison inmates earn college degrees. 

Sam Boss, assistant director of the Community-Engaged Learning and Research Program, said the school’s partnership with the College Guild began last year. 

“We offered students in professor Cynthia Baker’s religious studies course on human suffering the opportunity to support their correspondence education program for prisoners as part of an assignment to understand the experience and effects of incarceration,” Boss said.

“Cristopher Hernandez Sifontes, one of the students, found the work to be so rewarding that he started a College Guild club on campus to give students outside of the class the opportunity to get involved,” Boss said. 

The College Guild offers free, nontraditional correspondence courses to prisoners.

The organization handles all direct correspondence with prisoners to ensure safety and confidentiality.

The students receive written work and offer constructive feedback that can help the prisoners develop their writing and analytical skills. 

“First Degree” is a documentary about College Guild students at the maximum security Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York.

“Nationwide, over half of released inmates return to prison within five years, but for the past 14 years, less than 1 percent of the inmates that received a college degree at Sing Sing returned to prison,” according to trailer notes.

Boss said the group has a strong membership and is off to a great start. 

“We have also continued to offer students in courses on topics ranging from developmental psychology to criminology the opportunity to work with the College Guild as part of their coursework,” Boss said. 

What: “First Degree,” a documentary about a program that helps prison inmates earn college degrees  

When: 7 p.m. Monday, March 13

Where: Bates College, Pettingill Hall

More information about the movie can be found at pbs.org/wnet/dream-on/first-degree/ and for more about the College Guild program, visit collegeguild.org.

Screenshot from the documentary “First Degree” which will be screened at Bates College Monday, March 13, at 7 p.m.