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History

OUR HISTORY

JLUSA was founded in 2014 by Glenn E. Martin, a New York native and nationally recognized leader and reform advocate who spent six years in New York State prisons. JLUSA’s founding premise was to empower leaders by investing in them with transformative leadership training, giving them the resources and support they needed to be in key leadership roles in the nationwide effort to decarcerate the United States and reimagine how the criminal legal system is utilized.

In its first five years JLUSA also supported the building of a number of grassroot campaigns. These campaigns became our pilot projects to demonstrate that when those most impacted rise into leadership and demand change, change happens. JLUSA built the foundation of successful movements to close jails in Philadelphia (#CLOSEthecreek), Milwaukee (#CLOSEmsdf) and Los Angeles (JusticeLA), and New York (#CLOSErikers).

“People closest to the problem are closest to the solution, but furthest from power and resources.”
—Glenn E. Martin

We launched into the national spotlight with a major focus on our multi-complex state and local approach to close the infamous Rikers Island jail complex in New York City. Many efforts to close Rikers had failed in the past. JLUSA’s campaign achieved its goal because leaders directly impacted by the jail’s horrific conditions demanded its closure and the city’s divestment in punishment and investment in building healthy, thriving communities.

The #halfby2030 campaign was created to half the prison population in the U.S. by the year 2030, because that was the year Glenn’s son would turn 18, and he did not want his son’s feet to ever touch the inside of a prison facility.

In 2018, DeAnna Hoskins assumed the helm as President and CEO of JustLeadershipUSA. Ms. Hoskins—who hails from Cincinnati, Ohio—is a nationally recognized leader and graduate of the 2016 Leading with Conviction™ cohort. She is herself a previously incarcerated individual who received a pardon from Governor Ted Strickland. With a strong background in the field of policy, reintegration, and advocacy, she was the first formerly incarcerated individual to serve as Senior Policy Advisor Over Corrections and Reentry with the Department of Justice and as the Interim Deputy Director of the Federal Reentry Interagency Council during the Obama Administration before joining the staff of JLUSA.

Under Hoskins’ leadership, JLUSA has transitioned from a start-up non-profit to a well-established organization and leader in the movement to dismantle racist and oppressive systems in the United States. During 2020, JLUSA’s staff and board underwent an intensive strategic planning process. The organization remained committed to its founding principle: educating, elevating, and empowering people who have traditionally been excluded from power so they can be active change agents in dismantling the systemic racism and oppression that continues to marginalize them and their communities. DeAnna Hoskins explained:

DeAnna Hoskins
“Those who are directly impacted are closest to the problem and closest to the solution, but as our rallying cry reminds us, we have been farthest from resources and power. JustLeadershipUSA’s mission is to bring those resources and tools to leaders in the most marginalized and impacted communities and empower them to become the change agents they are meant to be. We pledge to be a national platform and go-to resource for people directly impacted by systemic oppression. By supporting and developing the next and future generations of leaders from the marginalized and oppressed communities and empowering them with the skills and tools they need to build strong and thriving communities, we will continue to build the nationwide network of movement leaders necessary to get the job done.”

DeAnna Hoskins

President / CEO, JustLeadershipUSA

Founding Board of Directors

PAST CAMPAIGNS

In its first five years JLUSA spearheaded a number of grassroots campaigns. These campaigns became our pilot projects to demonstrate that when those most impacted rise into leadership and demand change, change happens. JLUSA spearheaded successful movements to close jails in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles. We were launched into the national spotlight with our multi-year campaign to close the infamous Rikers Island jail complex in New York City. Many efforts to close Rikers had failed in the past. JLUSA’s campaign achieved its goal because leaders directly impacted by the jail’s horrific conditions demanded its closure.

During this period, JLUSA also launched its #WORKINGfuture Campaign which was committed to eliminating the devastating barriers to health, housing, and work experienced by 70 million people living with a criminal record in the United States. Led by JLUSA, and in partnership with directly impacted communities, the #WORKINGfuture campaign built power within and among impacted communities to challenge legislative barriers that exclude people from the future they deserve, and transform the narrative about the lifelong impacts of collateral consequences on people, families, and communities.

Philadelphia, PA

#CLOSEthecreek

The #CLOSEthecreek campaign to shutter the century-old Philadelphia House of Corrections was launched by directly impacted people in 2017. The campaign, which came about through a partnership with Leading with Conviction alumni, Reuben Jones, demanded that the city close the facility for good within two years, cut the prison population in half, end electronic monitoring, and reinvest savings in local-run, community-based services for returning community members. In May 2018 Mayor Jim Kenney announced that The Creek would be depopulated and would close. Campaign Coordinator Reuben Jones (Leading with Conviction Alum, 2017 cohort) stated:

“As far as what comes next, simple closure is not enough. The Creek must be razed to the ground or wholly redeveloped so that it can never again be used to cage a human being. It cannot stand as a testament to the devastation caused by the criminal justice system. It should instead become an example of what can be achieved by people-powered, values-driven movements that seek to keep people out of the criminal justice system and repair the harm that the system has caused in our communities.”
Read Reuben Jones’ Full Statement

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Milwaukee, WI

#CLOSEmsdf


The infamous Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility was built to warehouse people alleged to have violated rules of probation or parole--”technical violations” rather than new crimes, like missing an appointment or being late for curfew. Problems facing people incarcerated at MSDF have included extreme heat, poor ventilation, no access to outdoor recreation or sunlight, being locked down for over 20 hours a day, no in-person visits, and other abuses. Close to twenty people have died there, some by suicide and some because of the lack of medical care, since the facility opened in 2001.

In June 2017 Mark Rice, a Leading With Conviction alum (2017 cohort) founded #CLOSEmsdf. A coalition of four organizations--JustLeadershipUSA, Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO), Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, and WISDOM--launched a campaign, demanding the closure of the facility,  an end to incarcerating people for technical violations, and the reinvestment of money wasted on MSDF back into the most affected communities.
Op-Ed by Mark Rice

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Los Angeles, CA

JusticeLA

JusticeLA was formed in 2017 to reclaim, reimagine and reinvest what Los Angeles County could do with the $3.5 billion allocated to building two new jails. Since its launch, the campaign has successfully halted the jail expansion plan and led the development of LA County’s Alternatives to Incarceration Workgroup report.  Formed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors the Workgroup, composed of directly impacted people, leaders from the justice system and health departments as well as community experts were charged with developing an action-oriented framework and implementation plan to scale alternatives to incarceration and diversion so care and services are provided first and jail is a last resort. The Workgroup issued a 100-page final report titled “Care First, Jails Last” with a series of 100-plus recommendations which were adopted by the County Board of Supervisors in March 2020.

 

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New York, NY

#CLOSErikers

JLUSA launched the #CLOSErikers campaign in 2016 and was a leading voice and resourcer in a coalition of over one hundred organizations. We led multiple demonstrations, gave legislative testimony, and published op-eds and succeeded in drawing the public’s attention to the overcrowding, terrible conditions, and endemic violence that plagued the jail. JLUSA’s Founder was appointed to the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, charged with making recommendations for the closure of the facility. In 2019, the New York City Council voted to close the Rikers Island jail complex, and replace it with four smaller borough-based jails.

Under JLUSA’s leadership, the #CLOSErikers Campaign developed a #buildCOMMUNITIES platform issued on Martin Luther King Day in 2019. The platform was based on input from a series of community forums and from more than thirty partner organizations and called for public investments outside of the criminal legal system.  Demands focused on public health, housing, employment and economic development, education and schools, community programs and services, and conflict transformation.

Download #buildCOMMUNITIES Platform

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New York

#FREEnewyork

The #FREEnewyork campaign was launched in 2017 to achieve statewide criminal justice reforms that were vital to closing Rikers and depopulating jails throughout the state. The campaign built the power and leadership of New Yorkers most harmed by incarceration, and demanded bold legislative action and fundamental changes to New York’s pre-trial system. Anchored by JLUSA and led by people directly impacted by mass incarceration, grassroots groups and more than 150 organizations statewide, the #FREEnewyork campaign demanded a groundbreaking overhaul of the state’s bail, discovery and speedy trial laws.  In April 2019 the State Legislature passed historic reforms on all three issues.

 

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South Carolina, Michigan & Rhode Island

#WORKINGfuture

South Carolina

South Carolina has more than 700 laws that bar people with records from crucial everyday needs--from employment, to education, to housing. The state has long been one of the nation’s leaders in creating barriers for people with records. JLUSA built local coalitions under the leadership of directly impacted people and won the passage of “ban the box” ordinances in several cities, including Columbia, the state capital.  The Campaign succeeded in enlisting sponsors to introduce House Bill 3463 prohibiting the state from inquiring into a job applicant’s conviction history on the initial job application for state employment.

Michigan

In Michigan the #WORKINGfuture Campaign targeted the difficulty of having a public criminal record expunged.  Expungement would allow a person to legally state on any application for school, employment, public benefits, and housing that you have never been convicted of a crime.  But in Michigan, the expungement process was complicated and costly, and too few people were eligible.  The Campaign partnered with local organizations led by directly impacted people and sought to remove those barriers by expanding access to expungement.

In 2020, Clean Slate Michigan achieved its goal. Governor Gretchen Witmer signed the most expansive expungement legislation in the country.  The law will automatically clear certain convictions from public view and make more people eligible for expungement through the application process.  These changes will help hundreds of thousands of Michiganders.

Rhode Island

In Rhode Island there are close to 400 state laws that bar people with convictions from employment, education, and housing, and there are 150 occupations that require licenses which can be denied based solely on someone’s record. WORKINGfuture Rhode Island partnered with local organizations led by directly impacted people to demand legislative reform.

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Meet Our Team
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Contact Us

Mail that includes checks only:
JUSTLEADERSHIPUSA, INC
P.O. Box 23681
New York, NY 10087-3681

All other mail:
P.O. Box 1730, New York, NY 10037

347.454.2195

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JustLeadershipUSA is a non-partisan organization. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed belong solely to the individual author or speaker, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the organization.