Ameca Reali and Adrienne Wheeler

< PREV NEXT >

2011

Ameca Reali and Adrienne Wheeler

Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana

http://www.JACLouisiana.org

Civil and Human Rights

The Bold Idea:

Bold Idea: Tackle systemic criminal justice deficiencies in Louisiana by providing access to relevant legal files and bringing together the recently incarcerated, attorneys, and prisoner rights advocates to develop strategies for accountability and reform.

Organization: Implementing a non-capital post-conviction project in New Orleans provides incarcerated individuals with the possibility of freedom, access to justice and the opportunity to make radical changes in a system with glaring deficiencies. Also creating a collaborative space where attorneys, legal workers, and advocates can participate collectively in planning and implementing strategies for accountability and reform.

Biography:

Moment of Obligation: Long committed to reforming the deficiencies in the U.S. criminal justice system, we brought together a group of “strange bedfellows”—a room full of advocates, attorneys, and previously incarcerated individuals. Immediately, we realized that prisoner’s rights litigation and advocacy was wholly missing from our discussion. It became clear to us that if we were ever to make long-lasting changes to the broken machinery that turns lives upside-down, we would have to approach it in a cooperative environment similar to our roundtable discussion.

Books every social entrepreneur should read: Follow Her Lead: Leadership Lessons for Women as They Journey from the Backroom to the Boardroom by Dr. Anita Davis Defoe and The Revolution Will Not be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex by Ed. INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence

Favorite Quotes: "Anywhere there's people, there's power." -Fred Hampton

"Live the life you dreamed." -Henry David Thoreau