Presented by Sarah Rigney, Adam Cain, and Lee Gibson

Join Initiate Justice staff members for a presentation and open conversation unpacking how we center system impacted people in advocacy work, and what this looks like in practice. We’ll answer the questions of why it’s important (and the issue of what happens if this isn’t a core practice), what that looks like at IJ and how folks can plug in to our work. Participants will leave knowing the importance of this core practice and how to apply it to their own community organizing and base building.

Presented by Malanie Brazzell and Nishma Jethwa

In this workshop, we share back learnings from conversations with comrades around the globe about how they are practicing transformative justice in their respective communities. We then look more specifically at challenges and opportunities for transformative justice responses to sexual and gendered harm in their contexts. What can we learn for our own local practice from looking at transnational TJ experiments?

Presented by Zach Skow, Didontae Farmer, and Brian James

This workshop is hosted with (up to) 5 of our formerly incarcerated trainers, who honed their skills in prison and are now training/ business owners on the outside. The workshop discusses the potential for employment of the formerly incarcerated within the 100 billion dollar pet industry. Presenters will share how dog programs ready students for release/employment by imparting empathy, compassion, teamwork, accountability and problem solving. Participants will learn why the program's recidivism is virtually 0%, as well as the potential scalability and tiered scholastic development.

Presented by Edwin Paragas; Nhut Vo; Erik Clark; Ayla Benjamin; Tony Wallin Sato

An experiential workshop that explores the various practical applications of mindfulness and Buddhist practices in the incarceration system, and an overview of how and why the transformative and healing practices can contribute to greater systemic change. Boundless Freedom Project staff offer insight from their direct experiences with incarceration, finding liberation, and creating a wave of transformation and healing justice. Our team has direct experience of incarceration, liberation, and Buddhist practitioners and facilitators, how a spiritual path was practiced with life sentences, and the necessary and unique benefits of having formerly incarcerated community members facilitating programs on mindfulness inside carceral facilities.

Presented by William Noguera and Dr. Reymon Ethnasios

Our workshop, inspired by the 'Prisonology' podcast, delves into the contrasting dynamics of prison culture and rehabilitation. Highlighting William's Death Row class on individualism, attendees will gain insights from his transformative journey as an award-winning artist and author. Key takeaways include an actionable model for prison rehabilitation, with focus areas such as challenging gang mentality, emphasizing education, fostering individualism, encouraging responsibility, and ensuring effective societal reintegration. This workshop aims to reveal the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of humanizing incarcerated individuals. Join us to redefine and understand rehabilitation in the prison system.

Presented by Laura Electa Hayes; Gennell Lewis; Mynor Mendez; Brittany Morton

Pathways to College assists students with the college enrollment process, defining and demystifying higher education, connecting folks through networking and direct engagement, and holding discussion around critical pedagogy, resistance, and organizing. One of our primary goals is to build students’ networks with higher education support systems via connections, relationships, and mentorship. Guest facilitators often include the Rising Scholars Network, Project Rebound, Underground Scholars, professors, community organizers, and individuals impacted by incarceration who share their education and career pathways through personal narrative. Facilitators and participants are both teachers and students in this space.

Presented by Carletha Sterling

Carletha served 32 years in prison and will share this part of her life during the workshop. Prior to her release she designed the “U-Turn Prison and Prevention Program” which she received an award for her work in deterring at-risk individuals from a life of crime and drugs. She designed and trained other incarcerated person’s to facilitate numerous self-help programs. Carletha received her Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Leadership with Honors from Arizona State University and her Masters in Nonprofit Leadership Management. She holds two Associate Arts Degrees, and is certified in Applied Behavior Analysis.

Presented by Leo Hylton; Abdi “Lalee” Awad; Brandon Brown; Dan Fortune; Darlene George; Linda Small; Shaun Libby; Victoria Scott

Leo Hylton is a PhD student in Peace and Conflict Resolution. Leo’s education, work, and research are informed by his experience as a currently incarcerated person in Maine State Prison. Leo and other presenters will workshop their collaborative process for creating, piloting, and teaching three courses from the Freedom & Captivity abolitionist visioning project. This workshop offers a model for how to create and pilot community-building pedagogies of inclusivity, care, and learning. The F&C courses are designed by their team of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, justice-impacted and other folks, and are taught by incarcerated facilitators to community groups. Participants will develop knowledge of abolitionist pedagogy, collaborative praxis, curriculum design, and community-building methodologies, and be able to leave with two finalized curricula ready for implementation in their communities.

Presented by Carlos Sauceda

Carlos is a former lifer who experienced all the forms of the carceral system. Today he is a rehabilitated man who works as an advocate and activist to help bring change to the carceral system. This workshop is about youth incarceration and surviving the system. Focusing on the impact of a failed system that doesn't rehabilitate, struggles within the walls and post release challenges. The workshop voices the need to bring awareness and motivates the audience to join the fight.

Presented by Sofie Sheldon and Isaiah Baiseri

A program of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center and the UCLA Prison Education Program, Up to Us is a series of short sexual health education entertainment-education films and accompanying workshops, with screenplays by justice system-impacted youth. The three 10-minute films are centered around topics including identity and gender stereotypes, pregnancy, STIs, and consent. Throughout 2023 and beyond, we are working with community organizations that support justice system-impacted young people to share and implement Up to Us, while also implementing in high school health classrooms.

Presented by Billy Taing and Michael Madrilejo

Presented by Irene Franco Rubio and Raul Armenta

Our objective is to identify how our varying and uniquely distinct identities, values, lived experiences, and positionalities not only intersect with one another (and beyond ourselves) but also recognize how the awareness of self and others is perhaps the most critical and foundational element of organizing and movement building broadly. Identify how the work we do is grounded in our positionality and through our consciousness of the society and systems that surround us. Participants will gain knowledge on how to reclaim their narratives and shift our collective consciousness about the implications of our identities and help inform systemic change.

Winner of a dozen film festival awards, 26.2 TO LIFE is a documentary feature that explores that transformative power of San Quentin State Prison’s 1000 Mile Club, in which incarcerated runners are coached by volunteer elite marathoners who enter the prison year round to train the men to run an annual marathon that takes place entirely behind the walls — 105 dizzying laps around the prison yard. With the 0% recidivism rate among the released runners — the national average is 67% after 5 years — the film shows how powerful community engagement can be, not only for the incarcerated men, but for the volunteers who gain a complex understanding of who ends up in prison and why and what true rehabilitation looks like. 

• Official Trailer

• Official website

• Press kit & synopsis

• Press report

• CNN/PBS Amanpour & Company (17-minute interview)

• Morning Joe

• ABC Prime Live

• NY Times feature story on main subject Markelle Taylor

• Runners World feature story 

Petition for Tommy Wickerd: https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/commute-tommy-lee-wickerd-h77857

CHRISTINE YOO (DIRECTOR/PRODUCER) is a director, producer, writer, a volunteer at San Quentin State Prison. Winner of a dozen festival awards, and a Critics Choice Nominee for Best First Feature, 26.2 TO LIFE is Yoo’s first documentary feature. As a producer she has worked on non-fiction series for National Geographic, History, Oxygen and PBS for Revelations Entertainment, S.M.A.C., The Story Lab, Dick Wolf Films, Shed Media and Prometheus. Her independent work focuses on under-served voices and has been sponsored by Sundance, The Marshall Project, Rogovy Foundation, HOKA, LGMobile, Hyundai, Korean Air and she is a Logan Nonfiction Fellow. Highlights include, the documentary short, A Conversation With Claudia a special project for P.S.1/Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); co-writer of the cult anime series Afro Samurai starring Samuel L. Jackson; and director, producer and co-writer of the award-winning Korean-American rom-com Wedding Palace starring Brian Tee and S. Korean actress Kang Hy-jung (Oldboy) in her English language debut.

SARA JANE SLUKE (PRODUCER) has produced 150 hours of unscripted broadcast programming for ABC, Fox, CW, Discovery, History, National Geographic, MTV, and Lifetime. Docuseries highlights include Cellblock 6: Female Lockup (Relativity Media/TLC) which followed the stories of incarcerated women in a Cincinnati jail and Escape to Chimp Eden (Animal Planet), a Humane Society Genesis Award nominated series that tracked the rescue and rehabilitation of chimpanzees at a Jane Goodall Institute sanctuary. She is also a showrunner and writer of children’s television, and co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dealing With Stress for Teens and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Surviving Peer Pressure for Teens  published by Alpha Books. 

MARION WICKERD(PARTICIPANT) is the wife of Tommy Wickerd, a main subject of the film.

Room: Grand Horizon Ballroom

Presented by K. Bain

Delve into how the Sustainable Growth Plan cultivates individual development, nurturing the growth of exceptional leaders who will be better equipped to dismantle systemic racism and champion community transformation. Explore an avenue for personal and professional evolution, centered in the power to effect meaningful change. How are we building skills to eliminate structural racism?

Room: North Ridge

Presented by Alberto Lule

As a teaching artist, I have developed art activities geared towards carceral spaces. Activities are focused on critical thinking with educational components. There are elements that make these workshops different from anything else. There is the element of the instructor having the same experiences as the students. Knowing I am formerly incarcerated changes the perspective and attitude in the room. To see me as someone who has shared the stresses of confinement creates a solidarity in the room amongst the participants. Also, an element that creates a stronger type of dual teaching in which the student is teaching the teacher. 

Room: South Bay

Presented by Edwin Paragas; Nhut Vo; Erik Clark; Ayla Benjamin; Tony Wallin Sato

An experiential workshop exploring various practical applications of mindfulness practices in the incarceration system, and an overview of how and why the transformative and healing practices can contribute to greater systemic change. Boundless Freedom staff offer insight from their direct experiences with incarceration, finding liberation, and creating a wave of transformation and healing justice. We will share how a spiritual path was practiced with life sentences, the necessary and unique benefits of having formerly incarcerated individuals facilitating programs on mindfulness inside carceral facilities, the power of uplifting voices of those closest to the problem of incarceration through advocacy, and how healing inside prisons impacts our communities. 

Room: Carnesale Venice

Presented by Dr. Dale Lendrum, Ed.D.

This workshop is presented by Dr. Dale Lendrum Ed.D., a formerly incarcerated Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies at East Los Angeles College. The Education Justice Rising Scholars Program, in collaboration with East Los Angeles College, Homeboy Industries, and the California Community College Rising Scholar Network, provide a cohort model for our students that is designed to help them collectively complete their Golden Four (Oral Communication, Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning) together, in their first year. Providing a cohort model for our students offers several benefits that enhance their educational experience and increase their chances of successful reintegration into society, persistence to degree, and transfer to a 4-year university.

Room: West Coast

Presented by Taina Vargas and Emiliano Lopez

This workshop will cover voting rights for people impacted by incarceration and offer strategies on how our communities can more meaningfully engage in the electoral process. With the passage of Prop 17 in 2020, people on parole can now vote, however many formerly incarcerated people in the state are either unsure of their voting rights or do not have the tools they need to cast their ballots confidently. In this workshop, we will cover voter eligibility, registration, what is on the ballot and why it’s important to formerly incarcerated people, and how to be a community organizer.

Room: West Coast

Presented by Adam King

"Breaking the Cycle: Tattoo Removal and Recidivism Reduction" workshop offers a deep dive into the vital role of tattoo removal programs in reintegration efforts. Through compelling case studies and expert insights, participants gain a profound understanding of how transformative this process can be for ex-offenders seeking a fresh start. This workshop equips attendees with practical knowledge, resources, and best practices to implement similar initiatives in their communities, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive and rehabilitative justice system. Join us in exploring the powerful intersection of self-empowerment, societal reintegration, and recidivism reduction through tattoo removal programs. Together, we can break the cycle.

Room: Grand Horizon Ballroom

Presented by Sergio Torres

The John Irwin House (JIH) at CSUF Project Rebound took a qualitative approach to create a conversation on how the nation's first transformative housing initiative for formerly incarcerated people seeking higher education brings us home by using education as a tool for healing and redemption. Residents split into groups and asked to create questions on how the JIH is bringing us home by helping them close the gap between living securely and insecurity, the distances between the inside and outside, and the distance between higher education inside and outside of prison. The top questions were picked anonymously and were used to individually interview residents and collect data. The collected data will be our guiding talking points for a panel-style conversation with current JIH residents.

Room: Carnesale Venice

Presented by Carlos Vasquez

"P.R.I.C.E: Principles of Success" delves deep into Carlos Vasquez's transformative journey, navigating overwhelming trauma to discover life's purpose during his darkest hours in solitary confinement. This workshop introduces the five pivotal principles encapsulated in the acronym P.R.I.C.E, illuminating strategies to overcome trauma and achieve unparalleled success. Attendees will gain actionable insights into leveraging these principles to shift mindset, break trauma's chains, and ignite positive change, all while being inspired by Carlos's compelling story. Tailored for diverse audiences, from foster youth to university students, this session underscores trauma as a potential catalyst for growth, rather than a confining force.

Room: South Bay

Presented by Sofie Sheldon, Isaiah Baiseri, and Jai Williams

A program of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center and the UCLA Prison Education Program, Up to Us is a series of short sexual health education entertainment-education films and accompanying workshops, with screenplays by justice system-impacted youth. The three 10-minute films are centered around topics including identity and gender stereotypes, pregnancy, STIs, and consent. Throughout 2023 and beyond, we are working with community organizations that support justice system-impacted young people to share and implement Up to Us, while also implementing in high school health classrooms.

Room: North Ridge

Presented by Amalia Moreno Banda

Cal State LA has developed an innovative approach to student assistantships that diminishes the negative effects of a past criminal conviction and a lack of work history.  This approach reimagines student assistantships through real and impactful professional experiences that empower future leaders and cultivates resilience, self-efficacy, and a commitment to community engagement. The session will be motivational, informative, and inspiring.  Attendees will be challenged to empathize with the lived experiences of the population and will gain insights into the feelings and motivating factors that exist from real student perspectives. They will be challenged to reimagine the traditional student job as one embedded in student work as a basic need rather than a privilege.   

Room: Carnesale Venice

Presented by David Moore; Norman Gensemer; Joseph Trujillo; Elena Ruiz; Victor Ortega; Dino Riboni; Steve Houston

The workshop will consist of a slideshow overview of what the Impact facility does, the origin of its roots with relationship to the criminal justice and reentry systems, and the value of addressing the rising substance abuse issues and mental health aspects that intertwine with those who are system impacted. The workshop will proceed with a panel of 5 staff members from each department that will represent their perspective role and a panel of 5 participants in the PICS group; which stands for Post-incarceration syndrome, addressing the harmful effects of incarceration, transitional tools, and combatting the negative toxic masculinity characteristics. The key takeaways is the education received that encompasses the bridge between incarceration, substance abuse treatment options/benefits and accessibility. 

Room: Hermosa

Presented by Katie Dixon with Romarilyn Ralston

As a teaching artist, I have developed art activities geared towards carceral spaces. Activities are focused on critical thinking with educational components. There are elements that make these workshops different from anything else. There is the element of the instructor having the same experiences as the students. Knowing I am formerly incarcerated changes the perspective and attitude in the room. To see me as someone who has shared the stresses of confinement creates a solidarity in the room amongst the participants. Also, an element that creates a stronger type of dual teaching in which the student is teaching the teacher. 

Room: West Coast

Presented by Kamal Valadez

This workshop helps people cope with trauma through poetry and creative writing. Kamal Valadez was incarcerated over 10 years. Now released, he is still much so trying to navigate through the transition of being free. Parole, employment, and family has been the hardest obstacles. Amongst the adversity, Kamal works hard in the field of social work and is currently going to school at Cal State LA for his BSW. Kamal has overcome gangs, drugs, abandonment, violence and prison. Each one has an adverse affect but everyday he heals. Therefore, his path is the path of recovery so that he may help someone recover as well.

Room: North Ridge

Presented by Zach Skow, Didontae Farmer, and Brian James

This workshop is hosted with (up to) 5 of our formerly incarcerated trainers, who honed their skills in prison and are now training/ business owners on the outside. The workshop discusses the potential for employment of the formerly incarcerated within the 100 billion dollar pet industry. Presenters will share how dog programs ready students for release/employment by imparting empathy, compassion, teamwork, accountability and problem solving. They will also discuss why the program's recidivism is virtually 0%, as well as the potential scalability and tiered scholastic development.

Room: South Bay

Presented by Irene Franco Rubio and Raul Armenta

Our objective is to identify how our varying and uniquely distinct identities, values, lived experiences, and positionalities not only intersect with one another (and beyond ourselves) but also recognize how the awareness of self and others is perhaps the most critical and foundational element of organizing and movement building broadly. Identify how the work we do is grounded in our positionality and through our consciousness of the society and systems that surround us. Participants will gain knowledge on how to reclaim their narratives and shift our collective consciousness about the implications of our identities and help inform systemic change.

Talon Jordan - Photographer

Louie Mora - Photographer

Kyree Sterling - Singer/Artist

Jeromy Outlaw - Rapper

Pendra - Live Band

• Juan Gonzalez

• Eddie Quintana

• Steven De Leon

• Matthew Rojas