WVU Human Rights Film Series
February 25 and March 4, 2026 from 6-8pm
Ming Hsieh Hall, Room G 21
College Behind Bars
March 4, 2026 from 6-8pm
Room G 21 of Ming Hsieh Hall:
Film screening and panel discussion co-led by
Dr. Katy Ryan, director of the WVU Center for Prison Education and Research and
founder of the Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP), and WVU doctoral student
Danielle Stoneberg, a coordinator for both APBP and the WVU Higher Education
in Prison Initiative. Panelists include Bard College graduate
Darryl Byers-Robinson, who was formerly incarcerated and is featured
in the film, and
Celeste Monette Blair, a poet and visual artist recently released from
federal prison. WVU Bookstore will staff a book-signing for
This Book is Free and yours to Keep: Notes from the Appalachian Prison Book Project,
an award-winning WVU Press publication.
Burden of Innocence
February 25, 2026 from 6-8pm
Room G 21 of Ming Hsieh Hall
Film screening and panel discussion led by Professor Melissa Giggenbach, director of the WV Innocence Project, WVU College of Law.
The event includes panel presentations by exoneree Debra Milke, who was on Arizona’s death row for 22 years, and Tony Walton, who is currently fighting his wrongful conviction for armed robbery in Fayette County, West Virginia.
The series is made possible by the WVU Community Human Rights Film Fund, established by Morgantown residents Don Spencer and the late Carol Howe Hamblen. The series is overseen by the WVU Native American Studies Program.