Re-Imagine Justice 2022

Adjunct Lecturer, NYU Silver School of Social Work

Terrence Coffie is a 2017 graduate of New York University’s Silver School of Social Work, where he earned his BSW and MSW with a focus in criminal justice policy and reform. Terrence is currently employed at The Doe Fund, as the PR Coordinator-RWA America. During his tenure at NYU, Terrence interned at McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. Terrence was named the 2017 NASW-NYC Alex Rosen Student of the Year, the 2016/2017 Excellence in Leadership’s Award Recipient, and NYU’s 2016 President’s Service Award Recipient for his development of the College Pathways Program, and led to the founding of Educate Don’t Incarcerate, which assists young men of color and the formerly incarcerated in obtaining higher educational opportunities. His work has been highlighted in Chaney, J.R., & Schwartz, J. (with Coffie, T.) (2017). Chapter 13: Race, Education and Reintegrating Formerly Incarcerated Citizen. NY. Lexington Books.

Clinical Assistant Professor, NYU Silver School of Social Work

Kirk “Jae” James is a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU Silver. Jae was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, during a period of political and social unrest. He would ultimately migrate to the United States at ten years old with his mother in search of a better life. Yet the “American Dream,” like it is to many immigrants of color, would be more mirage than reality — the nightmare that awaited Jae — that 1 in 3 black men between 16 and 24 would be victims of what many scholars (decades later) would rather euphemistically title: “Mass Incarceration.”

As a college student with no prior criminal record, Jae would be arrested on April 13, 1994, and charged under a myriad of conspiracy counts related to the Rockefeller Drug Laws. He would be denied bail, trapped on Rikers Island for six months, and ultimately sentenced to life in prison at 19 years old. Jae would spend nine years in prison fighting an Order of Deportation, raising a daughter that was born two months after his incarceration, and getting a college degree before his eventual release in 2003. Since his release, Jae has been a champion of immigrant rights, mass incarceration, and raising awareness of the trauma instigated by various systems of oppression.

Read Dr. Kirk “Jae” James’s Full Bio

CEO, Touchdown NYC
Director of Advocacy, Broadway Advocacy Coalition
Consultant, Earl Monroe Basketball Charter School
Robinhood Hero-2021

Derrick Nkosi Cain, a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY, graduated from Bard College and The New York Theological Seminary. He was the Director of Client Services at the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund for 5 years, working alongside advocates and elected officials for systems change. Derrick Nkosi is from the impacted community, having experienced incarceration, his lived experience and professional accomplishment has inspired his commitment to systems change. Derrick specializes in advocacy, criminal justice training and organizational development.

Darryl K. Cooke is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and the founder of The Minds over Nines gun violence prevention program which focuses on ending the mass incarceration school to prison pipeline system by assisting participants in correcting errors in thinking. Mr. Cooke is a United States Marine Corps veteran and he obtained his M.S.W. in May of 2018. He is certified in civic reflection, peace circle training, and restorative justice. Mr. Cooke has been in the social service field for over 9 years specializing in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Mr. Cooke has also assessed and worked with hundreds of participants who are coping with mental health, trauma, and other abilities. He was a presenter at the Counsel of Social Work Education on Inclusion versus Exclusion in Dallas 2014, the Behind the Bars forum at Columbia University in New York 2015 and he worked in the Cook county circuit court A.R.I. program from 2013 to 2018. Mr. Cooke was the host for Eric Thomas’s ET 1% Club in Chicago April of 2019. Mr. Cooke was part of the Boys to Men Town hall with Illinois LT. Governor Juliana Stratton in July 2020.

2020 Soros Justice Fellow/Co-Founder, SOUL Sisters Leadership Collective

As the daughter of an undocumented immigrant who served 33 years in prison, Tanisha “Wakumi” Douglas has dedicated her life to building leadership among youth most impacted by mass incarceration and other oppressive systems. Wakumi is Founding Executive Director of S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective, which builds leadership with systems-involved girls & TGNC youth, in both Miami and NYC where she raised over $8 million. She is currently on an 18-month writing sabbatical from that role pursuing a Soros Justice Fellowship focused on healing justice & abolition. She has worked as a restorative justice circle keeper, social worker, community organizer, trainer and popular educator for numerous social justice organizations. Wakumi holds a Bachelors from Georgetown University and a Masters of Social Work from Columbia University, where she founded and organized the first Columbia University “Beyond the Bars” conference in 2010 as a student organizer. Wakumi’s work has been featured in numerous publications and media.

Cory Greene he/him/us/we is a formerly incarcerated co-founder and Healing Justice Organizer with How Our Lives Link Altogether! (H.O.L.L.A!). Cory is invested in developing, leading, and implementing an-intergenerational youth-led citywide and nationwide Healing Justice Movement. Cory (39 years old) was born and raised by a single mother in East Elmhurst Queens, NY, during a time when many mothers and urban communities were impacted by the crack epidemic. Cory’s ancestors and elders hail from the struggles of delta Mississippi, and the historical reality of being Black in “America” Cory’s experiences as a youth growing up in urban ghettos have contributed to his understanding of the systemic inequalities As a result, Cory has committed himself to a wide range of educational projects, healing, and grassroots movement building that seek to change existing conditions for the youth of color and our communities. Cory earned his Associate degree in Liberal Arts Deaf Studies from LaGuardia Community College. Cory earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology from New York University. Cory earned his doctoral degree from the Critical Social-Personality Psychology program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), where his research efforts analyze the praxis of grassroots pedagogy and healing–centered youth organizing within a process of radical healing.

Cory serves as a research associate and leader on numerous participatory action research (PAR) projects. Cory is an organizer with the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Family Movement (FICPFM), a national movement led by formerly incarcerated leaders to change the public policy landscape of criminal justice (punishment). Cory is a national organizer with the Education Liberation Project, engaging in a national project to uplift Prison Abolition through an educational toolkit. Cory is a 2013 National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, 2013 Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellow, 2016 Echoing Green Fellow, & 2017 Camelback fellow. Cory's organizing work, humanity, and analysis has been featured in critical documentaries such as Ava Duvernay’s 13th, From Prison to NYU, and most recently, H.O.L.L.A!’s Healing Justice Movement Documentary “We Came to Heal.” Cory has been married since he was 21 years old, a total of 18 years. Cory attributes knowing how to love and understand the importance of interpersonal journeying to his wife. Cory is a father. Cory attributes his work, motivation, and success to his son’s existence.

Janelle is a second-year Master of Public Administration student at NYU Wagner. She is particularly interested in community development and thinking through ways to best support low-income communities that have been historically marginalized. During her time at NYU Wagner, she works at the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy as a Policy & Communications Researcher and also works as an Education Consultant at Columbia Law School's Center for Public Research and Leadership. She currently serves as the Director of Social Justice and Innovation for NYU CannaPolicy and was a member of NYU's Students for Ending Mass Incarceration group. Prior to NYU, Janelle was an elementary school teacher in high-performing charter schools across Brooklyn and currently holds a B.A. from Lehigh University.

Andrea James, JD, is the Founder and Executive Director of The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Founder of Families for Justice as Healing, author of Upper Bunkies Unite: And Other Thoughts on the Politics of Mass Incarceration, a 2015 Soros Justice Fellow and. Recipient of the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.

As a former criminal defense attorney and a formerly incarcerated woman, Andrea shares her personal and professional experiences to raise awareness of the effects of incarcerating women on themselves, their children and communities. Her work is focused on ending incarceration of women and girls and contributing to the shift from a criminal legal system focused on police and prisons, to a system led by directly affected people from within their neighborhoods and based on individual and community accountability.

General Counsel, Office of National Drug Control Policy
Executive Office of the President

Robert A. Kent is the General Counsel with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). In this role Mr. Kent provides overall legal support to all components of ONDCP.

Mr. Kent most recently served as the Vice President of Advocacy and General Counsel for the American Association of Orthodontists, a national healthcare organization. Prior to that he served as the General Counsel for the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS). In this role, Robert provided overall legal support, policy guidance, and direction to the OASAS Executive Office and all divisions of the agency. Robert led the OASAS efforts to implement New York State’s Heroin and Opioid Task Force recommendations, including the Combat Addiction/Heroin Campaign, the Federal Opioid Targeted Grant program, and Medicaid Redesign Team initiatives including implementation of historic legislation to increase access to treatment, including harm reduction services. Robert has co-authored articles on patient confidentiality and sober homes and has presented nationally and throughout New York State on the addiction system of care.

In 2011, Robert was recognized by the Caron Foundation with their Legal Professional Public Service Award. In 2013, Robert was recognized by the Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies with their Leadership Award. In 2016, Robert was recognized by the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence with their Nyswander/Dole “Marie” award; the Long Island Recovery Association Friend of Recovery Award; and the Northern Tier Providers Coalition Public Service Award. In 2018, Robert was honored by the Friends of Recovery New York with the Charles Devlin Recovery Advocate Award and by Christopher’s Reason with the Outstanding Leader in the Recovery Community Award. In 2019, Robert was honored by NYAPRS with its Public Policy Leadership Award and by the MHANYS with their CEO Award. In 2020, Robert was honored by the NYS Justice Center with their Champion Award.

Mr. Kent is a graduate of the Syracuse University College of Law.

Mimi Kim is the founder of Creative Interventions and a co-founder of INCITE! She has been a long-time activist, advocate and researcher challenging gender-based violence at its intersection with state violence and creating community accountability, transformative justice and other community-based alternatives to criminalization. As a second generation Korean American, she locates her political work in global solidarity with feminist anti-imperialist struggles, seeking not only the end of oppression but of the creation of liberation here and now. Mimi is also an Associate Professor of social work at California State University, Long Beach and Co-Editor-in Chief of Affilia. Her recent publications include “The Carceral Creep: Gender-Based Violence, Race, and the Expansion of the Punitive State, 1973-1983” (2020) and “From Carceral Feminism to Transformative Justice: Women of Color Feminism and Alternatives to Incarceration” (2018). She is currently working on a restorative justice pilot project addressing domestic and sexual violence in Contra Costa County, California.

New York State Inspector General

New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang is a lifelong New Yorker, attorney, and educator. She previously served as Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, a national non-profit, and as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, where she investigated and prosecuted violent crimes including domestic violence and homicides and served as Special Counsel for Policy and Projects.

Inspector General Lang is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia Law School, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gender and Law and has served as a Lecturer-in-Law. She was named a Rising Star by the New York Law Journal in 2015, was selected as a Presidential Leadership Scholar in 2017, was a 2019 Aspen Society Fellow, and in 2020 received the Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award from the American Psychological Association for her work as an educator who inspired her students to make a difference in their communities.

She was appointed to and served on the New York State Bar Association Task Forces on Racial Injustice and Police Reform in 2020, and on Racism, Social Equity, and the Law in 2021.

Inspector General Lang is currently Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section, a member of the Council on Criminal Justice, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has published articles in the New York Times, The Atlantic, the New York Daily News, and many others, and is the author of March On!, a children's book about the 1915 women's march.

Co-Director of Freedom Agenda

Darren Mack is an activist, advocate, and organizer. Darren was directly impacted by the criminal legal system at the age of 17. He has been involved as a leader in the #CLOSErikers campaign since its launch in 2016. Darren is an alumnus of the Bard Prison Initiative where he earned his B.A. and graduated from Hunter College with a MSW in 2019. Darren is a Co-Director at Freedom Agenda, a member-led organization, dedicated to organizing people and communities directly impacted by incarceration, to achieve decarceration and system transformation.

Pia was sworn in as the Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney for Community Justice and Policy for Fairfax County in July 2021. Over the course of her career, she has demonstrated a proven commitment to public service and community justice. Early in Pia’s career, she realized a desire to work for underserved populations and focused her solo practice on indigent criminal defense work. Through this work, she realized the positive impact that progressive prosecution could have in the effort to achieve criminal justice reform. In pursuit of such change, Pia then went to work as a prosecutor in the City of Portsmouth, where she last served as the Acting Deputy for the Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court Team, prosecuting intimate partner crimes and violent felonies involving juveniles and adults.

In her current role, Pia serves as the liaison between the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney and the 1.2 million citizens of Fairfax County. Pia’s primary goals are advancing criminal justice reform and increasing diversity within the legal profession. With these goals in mind, Pia is working to develop a conviction integrity review unit to review wrongful convictions and a law student internship pipeline to increase diversity among Virginia’s prosecutors.

Pia attended Northwestern University where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. On Saturdays during football season, you can still find her cheering for her Wildcats. After finishing college, Pia returned home to Virginia and obtained her Juris Doctorate from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in 2007.

Luis Morales is the Executive Director of the Manhattan DA Academy and an instructor with the Academy’s Inside Criminal Justice program. He has been with the DA’s Office since 2013, serving also in the Appeals Bureau and Financial Frauds Bureau, which followed a federal clerkship and brief stint in private practice. Before attending law school, Luis taught English Language Arts in a New York City public middle school and served as a program manager with Harlem RBI in East Harlem.

Artist - Abolitionist - Mental Health Advocate - Human Rights defender- NYBPP CUB

• International Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights & Restorative Justice, United Coalition for Humanity

• Founder of the @YouthAntiPrison project (YAPP)

• co-Founder of Incarcerated Nation Network (INC)

• Director of the Incarcerated Nation Credible Messenger Institute (INCMI)

• Co Chair of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ)

Mr. Five Mualimm-ak is the Founder of the Incarcerated Nation Network, a collective of Directly Impacted leaders & organizations that serve those incarcerated, previously incarcerated & their families.

Since his return to society, Five has worked on national and international platforms to educate the world around mass incarceration, the collateral consequences of post incarceration and the conditions of confinement of millions of people.

Five is a Columbia University, Heyman Center for the Humanities 2016 Justice in Education Scholar, an alumni of Cornell University and The New School. Five teaches workshops & is an frequent lecturer in colleges & Universities across the nation including Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard and Cardoza law school. Five as a directly impacted consultant to the United Nations Subcommittee on torture OPCAT works to end systems like solitary confinement and is a founding member of national coalitions to end solitary and other conditions of confinement. Five is an Awarded Human Rights Defender with the ACLU & T'ruah Human Rights Watch. Five recently launched several Alternative to incarceration academies that all house, trains and support justice impacted young adults creating a community based solution to the persistent incarceration of young adults of color.

HealedPeople HealPeople

Dr. Anna Morgan-Mullane, LCSW-R (She/her) serves as the President of Mental Health Services at Children of Promise, NYC for 12 years and now serves as the Chief Executive Clinical Consultant to Fresh Youth Initiatives in New York. Dr. Morgan-Mullane conducts an extensive training program for MSW and MHC interns, Licensed Clinical Social workers, Licensed Mental Health Counselors, psychiatrists, and licensed creative art therapists that allows everyone to gain anti-racist and critical culturally responsive therapeutic skills needed to support individuals, families, and communities impacted by the injustice system, complex trauma, and intergenerational trauma. In 2012, Dr. Morgan-Mullane successfully established the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States specifically designed to address the experiences and narratives of children and adolescents impacted by hyper incarceration. Dr. Morgan-Mullane has also developed clinical policies and practice guidelines and launched an evidence-informed treatment model which includes the employment of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, complex trauma systems theory, and Mitigation Practices. Dr. Morgan-Mullane’s work explores the intersection of clinical social work, social policy, and systemic racism within all injustice systems. Dr. Morgan-Mullane teaches in Masters and Doctoral programs on several courses she developed on the intersectionality of clinical policy and practice within injustice reform and abolition and mental health implications for those impacted by systemic oppression.

Zy’aire Nassirah is a prison abolitionist, advocate, and organizer. Zyaire comes to this work with over 30 years of direct experience with the carceral system. Zyaire is a Reentry Case Manager and Legal Assistant with the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), an organization committed to creating a world rooted in self-determination, freedom of expression, and gender justice. Zyaire is also a long time member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and centers the experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming people impacted by imprisonment in his system change work.

Danielle Schumacher is a long-time cannabis activist and entrepreneur whose interest in drug legalization stems from a passion for prison abolition. She co-founded THC Staffing Group in 2014 after years of actively campaigning for drug legalization, which included co-founding a chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and helping found Oaksterdam University. Throughout her career, Danielle has remained focused on improving recruitment and management strategies in order for organizations and employees to reach their full potential. THC Staffing’s mission is to build a diverse and inclusive cannabis industry by prioritizing employment and ownership for communities most impacted by the War on Drugs - particularly women, people of color, LGBTQI, formerly incarcerated individuals, people with disabilities, across all ages, regardless of citizenship or primary language.

From prison to Microsoft

Shelley Winner is a formerly incarcerated Restorative Justice Activist whose goal is to change the world by advocating for justice-involved people by educating the public on the benefits of hiring them. 76% of people released from prison will re-offend and return to prison; this is called recidivism and Shelley is working to turn the tide on this statistic. Someone must challenge the societal stigma that prevents companies from hiring people with criminal records and Shelley has taken up that mantle. Shelley Winner, a Surface specialist, is very active in the restorative justice movement in San Francisco and has even done a TEDx on this topic and was featured in a PBS special called Life After Prison.

New York University Silver School of Social Work is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers {#SW-0012}.

New York University Silver School of Social Work is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors {#MHC-0083}.

For Mental Health Practitioners: Please check with your state, if you are not licensed in New York, to determine if these credits will be accepted for licensing renewal.