National Advocacy and Campaigns Director, @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social // Boston sports fan, car nut, comic book lover, girl dad, 🇮🇳🦁 // 👇🏽my views // (he/him)
210 followers 210 following 35 posts
view profile on Bluesky
Few people have a greater degree of influence or more direct control over your local #criminaljustice system than your elected #DistrictAttorney. These #elections define so much about who we are as a country. Thank you, @boltsmag.org for pulling this info together. boltsmag.org/2025-prosecu...
This year, #HB1460 - the broadest Republican-led fee elimination bill in history - became law in #Oklahoma. Yesterday, Governor #KevinStitt held a ceremonial bill signing. This is about more than changing laws. This is about changing lives. #justice #cjr finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/2025/08/26/h...
Calls from incarceration are about so much more than communication. They are connection. They are access to necessary services. They are an essential tool in enduring the unparalleled challenge that is incarceration. And in #NewYork state, they're now free. #cjreform www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/n...
🚨NEW REPORT from @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social🚨 Imposing Instability — put together by FFJC's incredible #Policy & #Research team — shows just how much economic harm states inflict on communities, how little they collect, and the devastating consequences. finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/articles/imp...
After *years* of hard-fought #advocacy, in 2024 the #FCC announced historic caps on the cost of calls from #prisons & #jails. Now, succumbing to pressure from people who defend the systemic status quo of harm and exploitation, the FCC has postponed those caps. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/07...
For those reentering society, freedom comes with strings attached. Nearly every state allows jails & prisons to bill people for their own incarceration. From room & board to medical costs, these #PayToStay fees tether people to the system they’ve already paid their debt to. @dylanhayre.bsky.social
"You've taken people at their most vulnerable and handed them a bill they can't pay. That debt destabilizes lives & entire communities." Charging fees to incarcerated people isn't just egregiously bad fiscal practice. It's financial exploitation that exacerbates harm.
🚨NEW REPORT🚨 Groundbreaking new research reaffirms that comprehensive reform to end debt-based drivers license suspensions can lead to massive #ecomomic benefits. For any policymaker who's trying to strengthen the #workforce, start here. #Free2Drive
"I could not understand how this was happening in mental health units. It made no logical sense that people who were supposed to be receiving treatment were being denied medication and placed in conditions that would exacerbate their symptoms." #CLOSErikers www.themarshallproject.org/2025/06/27/r...
For years, cities & states have significantly ramped up their inhumane efforts — fueled by the #GrantsPass ruling from #SCOTUS — to criminalize people experiencing #houselessness. The #HousingNotHandcuffs Act would be a big step forward from this crisis. #Congress www.votervoice.net/NHLC/campaig...
Love him or hate him, Vinny Schiraldi has always spoken truth to power. But this is about much more than the failures of legislative reform in #Maryland. This is a reminder of how even really well-intentioned agency leaders are limited in what they can achieve. www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/26/s...
210,000. That's how many *parole-eligible* human beings are imprisoned - people who remain incarcerated solely because of the decisions (or lack thereof) from state #parole boards that are, far too often, free to do as they please. #decarcerate #cjreform projects.csgjusticecenter.org/overlooked/
Substance use #decriminalization is not a cure-all. One of the biggest problems in decrim-only policy: fines. "Fines and fees are something that disproportionately impacts low-income populations, making it a vital element to address alongside other forms of punishment." filtermag.org/drug-decrimi...
Even small missteps can grow into major setbacks. “For a lot of folks, the impossibility of success [on supervision] is almost entirely determined by their ability to pay,” said @dylanhayre.bsky.social during a panel with @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Justice Lab, EXiT, & Justice System Partners.
To every advocate, ally, policymaker, and leader who continues to fight against systemic oppression, discrimination, marginalization, and harm - to everyone who believes we can have and works for a world defined by justice, hope, and healing: thank you. #juneteenth
In just 10 years, the #FinesAndFees reform movement has emerged as a unifying, bipartisan force. From our recent wins in Oklahoma and Nevada, to growing momentum nationwide, we’re driving reforms that expand access to #justice for all – regardless of income. Stay in the know 👉 tinyurl.com/2hr264j2
Grateful to be back at #JohnJay for a #criminaljustice convening. #NYCattheCrossroads is a timely, invaluable opportunity to hear, reconnect with, and learn from some of the leaders in this city's historic, dynamic justice reform and community safety work.
The assault on #Harvard is driving the news, but know that #Trump has levied similarly devastating attacks on several organizations that've been working toward common-sense, bipartisan #justice reform for years. He thinks he's attacking the "left". All he's really doing is making everyone less safe.
April is #SecondChanceMonth — time to reflect on and recommit to ending barriers standing btwn the 1-in-3 U.S.'ians w/ a criminal record and their chance to heal, grow, & thrive. Chief among those barriers? #finesandfees across the criminal legal system. finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/2025/04/01/s...
Fines and Fees Justice Center co-ED Priya Sarathy Jones speaking at @nba.com Social Justice Coalition's 'Give & Go' event — alongside Ken Oliver (Just Trust) and Nan Gibson (JPMC Policy Center) — about the depth of harm in the criminal legal system and the power of second chances. #SecondChanceMonth
Ten years ago today, the DOJ released their #Ferguson report - a groundbreaking chronicle of how the criminal legal system's reliance on #fines and #fees to generate revenue erodes trust between the system, police, and communities. It was the genesis of a movement dedicated to tackling that issue.
Best advice I ever received about staying focused on your cause when it feels chaotic: keep tugging on your thread in the quilt of oppression. Tug on yours, trust others to tug on theirs, and the quilt unravels. Don't grab more of the quilt. That makes it impossible for anyone to pull their thread.
What gives me hope? Recently, I've spoken with a law school policy advocacy seminar and at an advocates roundtable lunch. What I saw: people choosing to dedicate their careers to solving impossible problems. To building hope. To fighting for healing. The next generation of amazing justice reformers.
Many of the White House candidates for high level positions in the Federal government come across as badly qualified for the jobs they are seeking. If they all happened to be Black, I wonder if they’d instead be rejected as incompetent DEI hires?
Thank you, @govstitt.bsky.social, for explicitly calling for impactful, bold fines-and-fees reform in #Oklahoma. And thank you to the incredible advocates, including those on my team at @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social, who've fought for years to make this possible. Our work is just beginning. Let's go.
Appreciate the confirmation of what I'd basically assumed. But I needed to ask. Not a lot of room for confusion to begin with — even less when "loyalty" is the second thing listed on necessary skills.
Chiraag - Can you compare this to prior admin emails, to the extent they even existed, saying (probably in a more humane way): 'we're here, and you can choose to stay or not'? Is this an extreme and malevolent version of common practice, or is this (another) vicious aberration from the norm?
Watching @chrislhayes.bsky.social and @stephencolbert.bsky.social talk about the #Trump #January6 #pardons and relying on words like "jailbreak" and "offender" to tell their story... Why can't our "allies" in the fight for #justice focus on policy without relying on tired, dehumanizing tropes?
I spoke to @bolts.bsky.social about debt cancellation in Dauphin County, #Pennsylvania - a high-impact step nearly every jurisdiction in the country could take today. It helps people heal. It's part of justice reform. It strengthens local economies. It just makes sense. boltsmag.org/jail-debt-an...
Honored and grateful to work with and learn from this amazing, inspiring human being. Congratulations, Priya, on stepping into this new role at @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social, and *THANK YOU* for everything you've helped build these past several years. finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/2025/01/08/f...
The state-sanctioned violence of caging and then profiting off of Black bodies is perhaps more explicitly glaring in #Alabama than it is in other places. But what's happening there isn't exceptional. It's the norm. And the systems that allow this should be torn to shreds. ground.news/article/take...
Awesome #breakingnews about a major #criminaljustice #policy reform victory in #Ohio - the Buckeye State will end the practice of suspending driver's licenses due to inability to pay court debt. Huge gratitude and love to the advocates who made this happen. www.themarshallproject.org/2024/12/19/o...
Appreciate you. 🙌🏽♥️
Maddening to see "allies" in the work of #justice lean on and validate dehumanizing language to make a point. This country would likely be a much fairer place if we elected *more* formerly incarcerated people ("felons"). The problem with Trump isn't that he's a "felon"; it's that he's a vile person.
For anyone working in public policy, you need to pay attention to @taniel.bsky.social and the team at @bolts.bsky.social. For years, these accounts have been a go-to, must-have resource for me and for a lot of folks I've worked with. #followfriday (is that still a thing?)
@walterkatz.bsky.social check it out ☝🏽
Super grateful for all the new followers and looking forward to actually engaging with y'all on here. Except...not right now. #CurrentSituation #vacation #westcoast #reset
My new favorite New England meme
Grateful and honored to spend the day in #Baltimore, where @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social hosted a small strategy session with partners and allies from across #Maryland. The amazing people in this room have vision, heart, and fire. So inspired by what we can achieve together. #cjreform #justicereform
I guess I'm part of the #bluewave. No, not that one. The one where millions of people who want to connect and share meaningfully are coming over to #BlueSky. Looking forward to listening, learning, and being in dialogue.