Just Justice

After more than a decade as a criminal defense attorney, Courtney Teasley saw the same problem over and over again: too many people entered the criminal legal system without a practical understanding of their rights or the systems shaping their choices. In this episode, Courtney explains why she sees legal, financial, and civic literacy as essential tools for disrupting pathways into mass incarcer...

What happens when a woman’s survival is treated as a crime? In this episode of Just Justice, Jessica Henry speaks with award-winning journalist Justine van der Leun about her new book, Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival. Drawing on seven years of reporting and more than 1,000 accounts from incarcerated women, van der Leun examines how the crimin...

After nearly 25 years in New York prisons, Mujahideen Muhammad, MPS came home in 2024 and went straight to work on criminal justice reform. In this episode of Just Justice, he talks with host Jessica Henry about the New York Second Look Act, how prison education transformed his life at Sing Sing, the book club he built around James Garbarino's Miller's Children, and the humanitarian crisis in New...

In this episode of Just Justice, Jessica Henry sits down with Iris Eytan, founder of Protect Ethical Prosecutors (PEP), to examine prosecutorial misconduct and why it so rarely leads to consequences. Prosecutors hold more power than almost anyone in the American criminal legal system, yet broad legal immunity often shields them even after serious misconduct and ethical violations. Drawing on years...

On this episode of Just Justice, Damon "Sharuka" Venable, Community Affairs and Policy Specialist with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, shares his journey from a Newark childhood marked by poverty and street violence to spending 35 years in prison before being granted parole on his first attempt. Drawing from his memoir, A Beautiful Pain, Sharuka reflects on accountability, survival,...

In this episode of Just Justice, Jessica Henry speaks with Charles Rosen, founder of Ironbound Farm, about an unusual approach to justice: combining regenerative farming with second-chance employment. Charles shares what he’s learned from hiring people returning from prison, why jobs alone often aren’t enough, and how systems like parole can still derail successful reentry. Drawing on lessons from...

Nikki Mammano is the author of Breaking Good, a fast-paced memoir that traces her journey from suburban New Jersey to the drug underworld of Waikiki and back again, through addiction, arrest, prison, and ultimately recovery. Our conversation is both poignant and unexpectedly funny as we explore trauma and second chances in our criminal justice system. Who gets imprisoned and who receives grace? Wh...

S3E11: Death by Incarceration: Felix Rosado on Life Sentences and Restorative Justice Sentenced to life without parole at 18, Felix Rosado spent nearly 27 years in prison before his sentence was commuted. In this episode of Just Justice, Felix reflects on the moment he realized what a life sentence truly meant, what's wrong with "death by incarceration,"  and how restorative justice transformed hi...

In this episode of Just Justice, host Jessica Henry speaks with April Barber-Scales, who was sentenced to life without parole in 1991 as a frightened, pregnant teenager.  After more than thirty years in prison, April received a rare commutation in 2022 from North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. Since her release, April has devoted herself to advocating for people in prison and challenging extreme se...

In this powerful episode of Just Justice, writer, organizer, and abolitionist Emile Suotonye DeWeaver, author of Ghosts in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future, draws on more than two decades of incarceration to offer a deeply personal and sharply analytical critique of the U.S. criminal legal system, along with a bold vision for what justice could look...

Dr. Daphne Bryden joins this episode of Just Justice to explore trauma, transformation, and life after long-term incarceration. Drawing on over two decades of clinical and research experience, Dr. Brydon examines how people sentenced to life as children survive and grow in prison, and how they reclaim their identities and intimacy upon their release. She also tackles complex ideas about what a tra...

In this episode of Just Justice, host Jessica Henry sits down with Abe Bonowitz, co-founder and executive director of Death Penalty Action and one of the most persistent voices in the movement to end capital punishment in the United States. Abe shares how he went from a young man who once said he’d “pull the switch” himself to a lifelong abolitionist, and what decades of work on the front lines ha...

Jennifer Soble, founder and Executive Director of the Illinois Prison Project, is re-imagining justice around a simple but radical belief: people can change. In this episode of Just Justice, Jennifer and host Jessica Henry explore how hope becomes action, and how that hope has brought hundreds of people home. Through compelling stories of freedom and reform, we hear how the Illinois Prison Project...

David Carrillo was serving a life without parole sentence when he realized he needed to radically change his thinking, and the way he was living behind bars. From a prison cell, he began a journey of education, reflection, and transformation that led him to become the first incarcerated college professor in the country. In this inspiring episode, we talk about what it means to imagine a life of pu...

At just 17, Jeffrey Deskovic was coerced into a false confession and wrongly convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, despite DNA evidence that proved his innocence. After 16 years behind bars, he was finally exonerated. Now an attorney and founder of the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation, Jeff joins Just Justice to share his powerful story and his mission to free the wrongfully convicted. It’s a powerfu...

When former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer refused to recommend a pardon for actor Mel Gibson, the Trump administration fired her just three hours later. Now, Liz is telling her story. Liz has become a leading voice for justice, transparency, and integrity in the criminal legal system. On this episode of Just Justice, we dive into the politics of federal pardons under the Trump administration, and...

Law professor Aliza Kaplan joins Just Justice to share the human side of “second-chance lawyering." Aliza details the chllanging legal work that happens after a conviction, where post-conviction advocacy, parole, clemency, and re-sentencing can truly change lives. Aliza traces her journey from co-founding the New England Innocence Project to helping reshape criminal justice policy in Oregon, and s...

On this episode of Just Justice, Amanda Carrasco, author of the new memoir Becoming the Brave One, shares how her experiences with sexual abuse and homicide shaped her path toward healing, and how restorative justice became a powerful framework for accountability, resilience, and hope. This conversation highlights the strength it takes to tell your story and the possibilities of justice rooted in...

At just 15 years old, Andrew Hundley was sentenced to life without parole. Nearly two decades later, he became the first juvenile lifer in Louisiana released after the Supreme Court ruled such sentences unconstitutional. In this powerful episode of Just Justice, Andrew shares his extraordinary journey from incarceration to non-profit leader. Now the co-founder and executive director of the Louisia...

Ever wonder what mass incarceration really costs us—not just in terms of dollars, but in lost opportunities, strained families, and long-term economic impact? Spoiler: it’s a lot more than you think. In this episode, I sit down with Zoë Towns, Executive Director of FWD.us, to unpack the eye-opening findings from their report We Can’t Afford It: Mass Incarceration and the Family Tax. We break down...

Michael Pinard has devoted his entire career to advocating for children and fighting against the racial biases that often accompany their mistreatment in our legal systems. A former public defender turned law professor, Michael's work focuses on the intersection between race and the civil, criminal and juvenile justice systems. Michael is the faculty director of the Gibson-Banks Center for Race an...

Phillip Alvin Jones is incarcerated in a Washington prison, where he is serving two life sentences plus twenty years for a crime he committed many years ago in Maryland. Although he has been in prison for over thirty years, he has used his time to be an agent of change, both inside and outside the walls. Phillip hosts the podcast, The Wall: Behind and Beyond, and runs his own company, Phillip A. J...

S1EP21 Bryan Widenhouse: Advocate, Artist and JLWOP Survivor   Bryan Widenhouse received a life without parole sentence when he was only 17 years old. During his 31 year incarceration, some of which was spent at the notorious Angola prison, Bryan chose to serve others as a path toward accountability and redemption. When a change in law allowed Bryan to be released, he seized the opportunity to con...