For many in the audience, it was a moment to treasure.

The Ithaca Voice reports.

Prison debate team wins contest against Cornell students

AUBURN, NY – Sean will be a free man in October. On May 11, he was a particularly joyful one.

He and two other Cornell Prison Education Program students beamed when judges declared them winners in a debate against the Cornell Speech & Debate Society team.

For many in the audience, it was a moment to treasure. A contingent of professors and administrators from Cornell applauded the show of verbal alacrity and incarcerated students cheered for their peers. In the Auburn Correctional Facility, where intellectual pursuit is almost always overshadowed by the austere realities of a maximum-security prison, three men who have been behind bars for years triumphed over three Ivy Leaguers.