OSI Awards 2003 Soros Justice Fellowships

The Open Society Institute today announced the 22 scholars, journalists, former prisoners, advocates, lawyers, and organizers who will receive this year’s Soros Justice Fellowships. The fellowships support individuals working to restore fairness and discretion to the U.S. criminal justice system on a range of issues, including juvenile justice, sentencing reform, higher education in prison, the death penalty, drug policy, indigent defense, re-entry of prisoners into communities, immigrants’ rights, and civil liberties.

The Soros Justice Fellowships, awarded by OSI's Criminal Justice Initiative, have supported more than 140 individuals since the program's inception in 1997. Awards—one- and two-year stipends, ranging from $35,000 to $98,200—fall into three categories: Media, Postgraduate, and Senior Fellows.

• The Soros Justice Media Fellowship is a one-year program that funds journalists working in print, photography, radio, and documentary film to improve the quality of media coverage of incarceration and criminal justice issues.
• The Soros Justice Postgraduate Fellowship is a two-year program that funds lawyers, advocates, activists, and former prisoners to support national criminal justice reform.
• The Soros Justice Senior Fellowship is a one-year program that supports activists, academics, and community leaders to raise the level of national discussion and scholarship and prompt policy debate on issues of incarceration and criminal justice.

The 2003 Soros Justice Fellows are listed below in alphabetical order.

SOROS JUSTICE MEDIA FELLOWS

Elizabeth Amon, New York City: staff reporter at the National Law Journal, to write articles that explore the nexus between immigration policy and criminal justice after September 11.

Amy Bach, New York City: freelance journalist, to write a book about how the courts treat ordinary people and the structural and systemic reasons why justice fails.

Nathan Blakeslee, Austin, Texas: co-editor of the Texas Observer, to write a book about the controversial drug sting in Tulia, Texas.

Slawomir Grunberg, Spencer, New York: filmmaker, to complete a documentary film, Borderline, about a “borderline” mentally retarded woman serving 15 years to life for murder, despite evidence that the death was accidental.

Curtis Harris, New York City: freelance journalist, to write articles on why the justice system fails to conduct thorough investigations into criminal cases, resulting in wrongful incarcerations.

Robin Mejia, Santa Cruz, California: investigative reporter, to write articles addressing problems in the field of forensic science that affect the fairness of thousands of trials each year and the fates of thousands of people.

Tyrone Turner, Arlington, Virginia: freelance photojournalist, to explore the devastating impact of trying juveniles as adults.

SOROS JUSTICE POSTGRADUATE FELLOWS

Miriam Aukerman, Grand Rapids, Michigan: In conjunction with Western Michigan Legal Services, to challenge civil legal barriers that prevent former offenders in western Michigan from successfully re-establishing themselves in the community.

Michael Blain, Washington, D.C.: In conjunction with the Justice Policy Institute, Blain, a former prisoner and a graduate of the University of Maryland, will organize a network of inmates, former prisoners, and their families to participate in a national movement to advocate for prisoner’s right and criminal justice policy reform.

Kamel Jacot-Bell, New York City: In conjunction with the Prison Moratorium Project, to launch It’s Bigger than Hip-Hop, a pop culture project that engages young people with political activism and community organizing to generate change around the issue of mass incarceration.

Benita Jain, New York City: In conjunction with the Immigrant Defense Project, NYS Defender’s Association, to establish a community-based legal services model that supports organizing efforts to reform detention and deportation laws and addresses immediate legal needs of detainees.

Daniel Karpowitz, New York City: In conjunction with the Bard Prison Initiative, to focus his efforts on higher education in prisons.

Sapna Mirchandani, Washington, D.C.: In conjunction with the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, to work towards ending juvenile executions in the United States.

Adam C. Ortiz, Washington, D.C.: In conjunction with the American Bar Association’s Juvenile Justice Center, to join community activism with a coordinated national strategy to eliminate the juvenile death penalty, focusing on seven states where juveniles are currently awaiting execution.

Kemba Smith, Richmond, Virginia: In conjunction with the Drug Policy Alliance, Smith, who served six and a half years in a federal prison before her sentence was commuted by President Clinton, will unite youth from a variety of backgrounds to support drug policy reform.

Peter Wagner, Cincinnati, Ohio: In conjunction with the Prison Reform Advocacy Center, to work on reforming the current practice of counting urban prisoners as rural residents for purposes of redistricting.

JeDonna Young, Detroit, Michigan: In conjunction with Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Young, who was imprisoned for 21 years before her sentence was commuted by President Clinton, will organize grassroots and media support around sentencing reform in select midwestern states.

SOROS JUSTICE SENIOR FELLOWS

Robert Boruchowitz, Seattle, Washington: public defender, to reduce the number of people facing misdemeanor and juvenile prosecution without counsel, and increase use of alternatives to incarceration.

Angela J. Davis, Washington, D.C.: Professor of Law at the American University Washington College of Law, to write a book about how prosecutorial power and discretion have perpetuated many of the inequities and flaws in the criminal justice system.

Eric Lotke, Washington, D.C.: attorney, to examine the economic impact of how the U.S. census counts prisoners and the impact that has on funding communities.

Lori Pompa, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Director of Experiential Learning for the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University, to nationally replicate the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, the semester-long course she developed that is conducted inside Pennsylvania’s prisons and jails to foster dialogue between college students and incarcerated people.

Deborah Ramirez, Boston, Massachusetts: Professor at the Northeastern University College of Law and Co-Director of the Northeastern University’s Institute on Race and Justice, to strengthen understanding between law enforcement and the Arab, Muslim, and Sikh communities.