Allison Flom is a writer, director, and advocate for the humane treatment of people in detention and post-release support for the wrongfully convicted. Allison has worked with JDI since 2017, facilitating art workshops in several New York prisons. Allison’s work across several media investigates identity, justice, and little-known historical events. Her short films and music videos have earned recognition at festivals internationally, and her original true-crime history podcast will premiere in 2023. Allison studied storytelling for social change at NYU Gallatin. She also performs improv comedy, works with high school students on college prep, and is a licensed tour and sightseeing guide in New York City.

Dawn Davison, MS, was the first prison official to join JDI’s Board. As former Warden of the California Institution for Women, she placed herself within the vanguard of reform-minded corrections managers by allowing JDI and the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center to bring counselors into the prison to speak confidentially with sexual abuse survivors. As Warden, she instituted many rehabilitative programs and worked with volunteer groups, emphasizing education, life and workplace skills, the maintenance of family and community relationships, successful reintegration into society, and breaking the intergenerational cycle of incarceration. Since her retirement in 2009, Dawn has remained an active consultant and activist for incarcerated people’s rights, through her work with JDI and the USC Gould School of Law Post-Conviction Justice Project. She is a member of two other non-profit boards.

Deborah Colson is a criminal defense lawyer in New York City. Previously, she served as an Assistant Federal Defender in the Eastern District of New York and as the Acting Director of the Law & Security Program at Human Rights First. Deborah holds a BA in History from Wesleyan University and a JD from Harvard Law School. She clerked for the Honorable Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York.

Haim Pekelis, JD, is a Vice-President and Wealth Manager at Morgan Stanley. He is a US Army veteran and a graduate of Brown University and the Defense Language Institute (WC). While working in financial services, he went to Loyola Law School at night and is currently an inactive member of the California Bar. Haim previously worked in the motion picture industry, in production, editing, and as a writer.

Hector Villagra, JD, has been Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) since February 2011. He launched the Orange County Office of the ACLU SoCal in September 2005 and served as its Director until October 2009, when he became Legal Director for the ACLU SoCal. Before joining the ACLU, he served as Regional Counsel for the Los Angeles Regional Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) from 2001 to 2005 and as a staff attorney at MALDEF from 1999 to 2001. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Columbia University and a JD from Columbia Law School. After law school, he clerked for Chief Justice Robert Wilentz of the New Jersey Supreme Court and Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Hector currently serves on the boards of Just Detention International and the California Immigrant Policy Center.

Hussein Khalifa is a founding partner at MVision, a private equity advisory firm based in New York, London, and Hong Kong. Previously, he served as the founding director and chief executive of Archstone Capital. Hussein is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is on the Advisory Boards of the RAND Corporation’s Centre for Global Risk and Security, NOOR Theatre, and the Middlebury Museum & Visual Arts Council. Hussein graduated with honors from Middlebury College and is a Georgetown Leadership Seminar alumnus. He is proficient in French, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), and Spanish.

John W. Johnson is a Chief at the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department and is the Immediate Past President of the American Jail Association. A 22-year corrections veteran, he worked at MDCR as a Correctional Corporal, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain prior to becoming a Chief. Additionally, he has served as a consultant for the National Institute of Justice and the National Institute of Corrections. He is also a candidate for a Doctor of Philosophy that focuses on Public-Safety Leadership.

Kate Summers is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She worked for many years at a Los Angeles County outpatient mental health clinic, and later did mental health assessments in the county’s jails for the ACLU. For several years she has served as a Buddhist chaplain in the county’s women’s jail, and is a long-time member of the ACLU of Southern California’s Foundation Board.

Linda McFarlane, MSW, LCSW, is the Executive Director and Board Secretary of JDI. Linda manages all of JDI’s work, in the U.S. and internationally, and serves as the organization’s primary spokesperson. A licensed social worker, Linda has more than 30 years of experience working with survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. Previously, Linda served as JDI’s Deputy Executive Director. In that role, she trained corrections officials, medical and mental health practitioners, and direct service providers in preventing and responding to sexual violence behind bars. She also worked with corrections agencies on implementing programs to make their facilities safer. Before joining JDI in 2005, Linda worked in community rape crisis programs, foster care, and with adults with mental illness. She also worked as a staff member, unit supervisor, and therapist in a detention facility for girls with mental illness.

Lukas Haynes is Executive Director of the David Rockefeller Fund and a member of the U.S. Council on Criminal Justice. A 19-year veteran of philanthropic grantmaking and donor advising, he has supported U.S. justice system transformation at a city, state, and federal level since 2015. Previously, he was Vice President of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation (where Just Detention International was a human rights grantee) and Acting Director and Program Officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago. He also serves on the board of the Sepsis Alliance.

Martin Leyva is the Program Coordinator for Project Rebound at California State University-San Marcos. He is a current student in the Joint Doctoral Program at UCSD/CSUSM in Education and holds an MA in Sociological Practice, a BA in Liberal Arts/Psychology from Antioch University, and is CAADE Certified Drug and Alcohol Treatment Counselor. Martin has a strong passion for social justice and human rights issues.  He has spoken and shared at multiple venues, including universities throughout California and the American Society of Criminology. He has led trainings on best practices for working with formerly incarcerated individuals, emotional intelligence, and spiritual self care. He is well known for his abilities with gang intervention/prevention and mediation skills and for helping those with drug and alcohol issues.

Mateo de la Torre is a transgender Latino from Tijuana, Mexico, and currently serves as the International Programs Manager at the LGBTQ Victory Institute. His work has focused on addressing the criminalization of transgender people of color and those with low-to-no income including organizing around sex workers’ rights, policing, and conditions of confinement in prisons and detention centers. Mateo has most recently served as Director of Policy and Advocacy at a national prison abolitionist organization, Black and Pink, where he managed the National LGBTQ/HIV Criminal Justice Working Group, and as Racial and Economic Justice Policy Advocate at the National Center for Transgender Equality. Throughout his advocacy he has organized national lobby days, published reports on the interactions of transgender and gender nonconforming people with law enforcement, co-drafted the first federal bill focused on the health and safety of sex workers, and headed up Latinx outreach and engagement for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama Administration. Mateo earned a degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies from California State University, Chico.

Melinda Eades LeMoine, Esq., is the Director, Content Litigation at Netflix. Prior to that role, she was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson, focusing on complex business litigation for companies in the media and entertainment industries. Melinda also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Susan P. Graber on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A graduate of Columbia University’s Barnard College and Brooklyn Law School, Melinda has devoted many hours of her practice to pro bono work. For several years, she was counsel with primary responsibility for the state post-conviction efforts on behalf of a prisoner on death row in Nevada, and more recently has contributed to the firm’s work on behalf of a capital prisoner in Louisiana. She also served for several years on the board of directors for the Action Committee for Women in Prison, a nonprofit organization.

Robin Downs Colbert is Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Addiction Professionals of North Carolina (APNC), a membership organization that drives high standards in professional development, innovative addiction programs, and advocates for better health policy.  APNC advocates for policies to ensure equitable access to prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm-reduction services and promote a greater understanding of addiction issues. Prior to joining APNC, Robin served as Associate Director of the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, where her duties included running programs to support incarcerated survivors.  She is also the former Chair and Treasurer of the North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking and is a consultant for the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center. In addition, Robin serves as the Victim Advocate North Carolina Judicial Branch appointee to the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, a state agency that investigates and evaluates post-conviction claims of factual innocence.

Russell Robinson, JD, is a Professor, UC Berkeley School of Law. He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and received his B.A. from Hampton University. Russell clerked for Judge Dorothy Nelson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1998-99) and for Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court (2000-01). Before joining the faculty of UC Berkeley in 2011, Russell was a professor at UCLA School of Law. Russell’s scholarly interests include antidiscrimination law, race and sexuality, law and psychology, constitutional law, and media and entertainment law. His publications include an article examining a segregated unit for gay male and male-to-female transgender inmates at Los Angeles County Men’s Jail.

Stephanie Walker is a prisoners’ rights advocate and the founder of #Iamnolongersilent, which aims to promote survivor voices. While incarcerated at a prison in Georgia, Stephanie was sexually assaulted repeatedly by a corrections officer. Upon her release, Stephanie reported her attacker and participated in his prosecution, which led to his conviction. A member of JDI’s Survivor Council, Stephanie has shared her story with the press and advocates. She also helped spearhead a recent successful legislative effort to lengthen the statute of limitations for sexual assault in Georgia.