Meet the members of Restore Justice’s staff
Alice Swan (she/her/hers)
Operations Director
Alice Swan (she/her/hers)
Operations Director
As the Restore Justice Operations Director, Alice manages the organization’s record-keeping, administrative processes, bookkeeping, and human resources. She has more than 15 years of professional experience in non-profit management and education.
Alice joined Restore Justice from the Princeton Review, where she had been a consulting content developer and project manager for eight years. Prior to working for the Princeton Review, she worked in nonprofit administration for seven years. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago, is the mother of two boys, and is an avid knitter.
Alissa Rivera (she/her/hers)
Communications Director
Alissa Rivera (she/her/hers)
Communications Director
Alissa Rivera is the Restore Justice Communications Manager. Alissa works on the website, media relations, social media, storytelling, messaging, and communications training for advocates. She joined Restore Justice in July 2019 from the Shriver Center on Poverty Law where she managed digital communications.
Alissa previously worked as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, State Journal-Register, and Tampa Tribune. She also worked for Tampa Bay area television stations. During her reporting career, Alissa worked on investigations related to homelessness and the criminal justice system. She received a Peter Lisagor Award with a reporting team from the Chicago Reporter.
Alissa is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and also holds journalism master’s degrees from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and the University of Illinois Springfield. She loves visiting national parks.
Selected Media and Writing:
Corinne Kannenberg (she/her/hers)
ACLS Leading Edge Fellow
Corinne Kannenberg (she/her/hers)
ACLS Leading Edge Fellow
As a postdoctoral fellow at Restore Justice, Corinne is working on a research project on extreme sentences for children and youth in Illinois. In 2021, she received a PhD in History from Princeton University and also has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Studio Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder. Following the completion of her doctoral degree, Corinne was awarded the American Council of Learned Societies’ Leading Edge Fellowship – which matches humanities PhDs with social justice organizations – to join Restore Justice. She has nearly a decade of professional and academic experience working in museums, archives, and educational institutions. Corinne also taught several college writing and history courses to incarcerated students as part of Princeton’s Prison Teaching Initiative. This experience made a lasting impact on Corinne and has profoundly influenced her interest in criminal legal system research, advocacy, and reform.
Eric Anderson (he/him/his)
Future Leaders Apprentice
Eric Anderson (he/him/his)
Future Leaders Apprentice
Eric Anderson is a Future Leaders Apprentice. committed at the age of 15. Eric originally received a life without the possibility of parole sentence – despite his age – but received a second look through the US Supreme Court’s Miller decision. While incarcerated, Eric became a certified paralegal, earned a certificate as a Peace Circle Keeper for restorative justice, and helped create the Credible Messenger Mentorship Program which allows currently incarcerated people to learn to mentor children incarcerated in juvenile facilities, among many other accomplishments. Eric also created an electronic newsletter at Kewanee Life Skills Reentry Center; the newsletter, Kewanee Horizons, is published every week and available for everyone incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections and for the public through the Department’s website. Since coming home, Eric has facilitated restorative justice peace circle trainings at Kewanee.
James Swansey (he/him/his)
Policy Manager
James Swansey (he/him/his)
Policy Manager
James Swansey is the Policy Manager at Restore Justice. He joined the Restore Justice team in February 2021 as a Future Leaders Apprentice. James returned home in December 2020 after serving 28 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Incarcerated in 1993 at the age of 18, James originally received a sentence of natural life without the possibility of parole plus an additional 30 years. He received a new sentence through court cases about youth sentencing.
“As time went by, I learned how to become responsible for my actions and accountable for my decisions, which in turn allowed me to show the individual that I actually was,” James said. “I now have the opportunity to give back to the same system that sentenced me to die, without giving me the death penalty. Working with Restore Justice is something that I look forward to because I know that I have a voice. I look forward to making a difference.” James aspires to be a voice for those who can’t be heard.
Since joining the Restore Justice staff, James is most proud of becoming a registered Illinois lobbyist and working in Springfield to ensure passage of legislation that will create more meaningful pathways to release for some of the people he once served time with. James serves on the National Life Without Parole Leadership Council, which seeks to abolish all such sentences and create a society that recognizes the human capacity for transformation, promotes true accountability, and creates opportunities for healing and making amends a society in which no person is condemned to death by incarceration with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Jobi Cates (she/her/hers)
Executive Director
Jobi Cates (she/her/hers)
Executive Director
Jobi Cates is the Executive Director and Founder of Restore Justice, a statewide criminal justice reform organization focused on long-term incarceration and its impact on individuals, families, and communities. From 2008 through 2014, Jobi was the Senior Director of the Chicago and Midwest Regional Office of Human Rights Watch (HRW). In her role there, she led the legislative and communications efforts of a broad-based coalition to end the practice of sentencing children who commit serious crimes to “life without parole.” Jobi has extensive non-profit leadership experience over more than 25 years, including roles as Executive Director of the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and Executive Director of the Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation. She has served in government twice, leading initiatives for Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan. As a consultant, Jobi has managed projects for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Fund for a Safer Future, the Asset Funders Network, the Chicago Community Trust, and Americares. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, the mother of two children, and an avid crafter. Jobi was recently confirmed as a member of the Illinois Youth Budget Commission by Governor JB Pritzker.
Selected Media and Writing:
- Daily Line: Illinois Needs to Do More COVID Testing in Prisons (2020)
- Injustice Watch: COVID-19 & Our Elderly Prison Population (2020)
- Chicago Sun-Times: Abolish Felony-Murder Rule (2019)
- ABC7 Chicago: Illinois’ Felony-Murder Law (2019)
- Chicago Tribune: Lake County Felony-Murder Charges (2019)
- Injustice Watch: Youthful Parole Bill Passes (2018)
- The Point Magazine: Restoring Justice (2018)
- Medium: Teens, Booze, Crime, and Courts (2018)
- Mikva Challenge: Tribute to Abner Mikva (2016)
- MSNBC: Second Chances (2014)
Joseph L. Moore, Jr. (he/him/his)
Future Leaders Apprentice
Joseph L. Moore, Jr. (he/him/his)
Future Leaders Apprentice
Joseph L. Moore, Jr. is a Future Leaders Apprentice. At 22 years of age, Joseph received a 60-year prison sentence. After serving 26 consecutive years, he was released one year ago at age 48. Joseph knows his lived experience of incarceration equips him with a perspective and an understanding of the carceral system that can’t be gleaned from books. His long-term imprisonment qualifies him and motivates him to speak authoritatively about the injustices that plague the carceral system. While in prison, Joseph encouraged others to work toward changing their lives. Now, as a newly returned citizen, Joseph is lending his voice to the fight to change the system. Since returning home, Joseph has attended multiple Restore Justice’s advocacy trainings, showing an interest in legislative action. He spoke at a Resentencing Task Force hearing and at our October Impacted Excellence Gala. Joseph has also completed Peace Circle training.
Julie Anderson (she/her/hers)
Outreach Director
Julie Anderson (she/her/hers)
Outreach Director
Julie Anderson is Restore Justice’s Outreach Director. She helps guide Restore Justice’s work to reduce extreme prison sentences for young people and to improve prison conditions. Julie’s son Eric was sentenced to juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) in 1995 when he was just 15 years old; Eric is now 40. Because of the US Supreme Court’s 2012 Miller v Alabama decision, Eric received a new (30-year) sentence in 2017. Julie is the founder and coordinator of CRIIC, Communities & Relatives of Illinois Incarcerated Children. CRIIC members have family and friends sentenced as young people to life without parole. They support each other and provide encouragement while working to eliminate juvenile life without parole sentences. Before joining the Restore Justice staff, Julie served as a founding member of the Restore Justice Illinois board. She is also on the board of the Juvenile Justice Initiative and the Steering Committee for the National Family Network for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.
Selected media and writing:
Lindsey Hammond (she/her/hers)
Policy Director
Lindsey Hammond (she/her/hers)
Policy Director
Rev. Lindsey Hammond is Restore Justice’s Policy Director. She leads the organization’s state policy work, advocating for fairness, humanity, and compassion throughout the Illinois criminal legal system. In 2023, Lindsey was an instrumental member of the Restore Justice team that led the efforts to abolish sentencing children and young people to life without the possibility of parole, making Illinois the 26th state to end juvenile life without parole. In 2022, Lindsey brought policy expertise on resentencing to support the Illinois Resentencing Task Force, which made legislative recommendations to the General Assembly to create new pathways for resentencing. She is also a member of the Illinois Reentry Council.
Before joining Restore Justice, Lindsey worked with advocates specializing in criminal legal reform and restoring rights and opportunities for people with criminal records. Lindsey has worked with coalitions to successfully pass bills to end wealth-based detention in Illinois, protect survivors of human trafficking, and increase employment and housing opportunities for people with records, including legislation that led to the most expansive sealing of felony records in the nation. Lindsey brings more than 20 years of policy and nonprofit experience to Restore Justice. She is passionate about mobilizing people to advocate and connect their faith with justice. Lindsey is a mother of two children and a United Church of Christ minister. She holds degrees from Vanderbilt University and Rhodes College.
Michele Kenfack (she/her/hers)
ACLS Leading Edge Fellow
Michele Kenfack (she/her/hers)
ACLS Leading Edge Fellow
Michele Kenfack is an ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) fellow and Communication and Engagement Specialist. At Restore Justice, she will document and tell the stories of people who are currently and formerly incarcerated. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago. Michele is passionate about human rights, social justice, and equal opportunity. She is inspired by love, compassion, and empathy. In her spare time, Michele enjoys reading, as well as playing Scrabble and tennis.
NaJei Webster (she/her/hers)
Program Manager
NaJei Webster (she/her/hers)
Program Manager
NaJei Webster is Restore Justice’s Program Manager. She first joined our team as a member of the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program (FLAP). NaJei was the first woman to join FLAP. She returned home in 2021 after serving eight and a half years in prison because of an accountability conviction and firearm enhancement. NaJei received a 21-year sentence, for which she had to serve 50 percent. She came home earlier because of credits she earned and for contracts she received for her work as a seamstress.
While incarcerated, NaJei completed life skills and reentry courses. She also served as vice president of education in Logan Correctional Center’s Toastmasters program and acted in Millikin University’s Shakespeare Corrected program.
Before working at Restore Justice, NaJei worked as a teacher’s assistant in a daycare. She has strived to restart her life, while also trying to help people impacted by the criminal legal system in any way she can. NaJei is especially passionate about helping young girls find their paths in life and helping mold them into great young women. She became an apprentice to help give a voice to women who are still incarcerated. NaJei is very passionate about helping the impacted community.Since becoming Program Manager, NaJei has created a volunteer program, Bridging the Gap, that connects people who are incarcerated with volunteers who can assist them with their transition back into society. She helps manage the apprenticeship program that first brought her to Restore Justice and has hosted Returning Citizen Network meetings and outings. NaJei’s proudest accomplishment thus far at Restore Justice is her role in planning our Impacted Excellence gala and Stories of Transformation luncheon.
Nelson Morris (he/him/his)
Development Manager
Nelson Morris (he/him/his)
Development Manager
Nelson Morris is Restore Justice’s Development Manager. He first joined our team as the Future Leaders Apprentice. As the only organization in Illinois specifically working to address issues faced by youth serving life or de-facto life sentences, Restore Justice created the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program (FLAP). FLAP provides returning citizens who have a deep commitment to social justice with a unique opportunity to turn their skills and passions for social good into new, tangible leadership opportunities.
Nelson returned home in August 2020 after serving 29 years and three weeks in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a conviction at the age of 17. Originally serving life without parole (plus 35 years), Nelson received a new sentence of 60 years after the Supreme Court’s Miller decision. Because Nelson was sentenced when Illinois still allowed people to earn day-for-day good time, he was able to cut that sentence in half.
A week after his release from prison, Nelson started working at Restore Justice. Now, two and a half years later, he is our Development Manager. In that role, he helps with our fundraising, advocacy, and community outreach. Nelson is an ambassador for Represent Justice. Through that program, he has learned there is power in his story and that he can use it to help the people he left behind in prison. Nelson has also mentored children and volunteered with our sister organization, Restore Justice Illinois. Outside of work, Nelson spends time with family, reads, and enjoys life as a free man.
Wendell Robinson (he/him/his)
Program Director
Wendell Robinson (he/him/his)
Program Director
Wendell Robinson is the Program Director at Restore Justice. He initially joined us as the first Future Leaders Apprentice and he now oversees that program. (The apprenticeship aims to develop non-profit management skills among people returning to the community following extreme sentences.) His current role also involves community outreach, data management, and fundraising.
Wendell served 25 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a conviction at the age of 17. Released in January 2018, he immediately began to seek sustainable employment and to engage in advocacy to help his peers who are still incarcerated. He completed a training and certification program in trucking, and had been working as a truck driver before receiving his apprenticeship.
Having attended all of Restore Justice’s advocacy days since his release, Wendell was a strong candidate for the new apprenticeship. “I’m forever focused on being a productive member of society. I understand what it means to be a beacon of hope for all the guys I left behind,” he said.
Selected media and writing:
- Heartland Alliance: Never Fully Free (2020)
- State Senate committee focuses on drug penalty reform, elderly parole (2020)
- Learning to use the internet gave Wendell Robinson a new life (2019)