Meet the members of Restore Justice’s staff
Alice Swan (she/her/hers)
Managing Director
Alice Swan (she/her/hers)
Managing Director
As the Restore Justice Managing 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.
Brian Beals (he/him/his)
Future Leaders Apprentice
Brian Beals (he/him/his)
Future Leaders Apprentice
Brian Beals is an accomplished activist, organizer and award-winning playwright, who was exonerated in 2023 after spending 35 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. A Chicago native, Brian works in nonprofit and artistic spaces to create programming and support for communities impacted by injustice. Brian is a winner of the Just Leadership USA Emerging Leaders Grant. He is the founder and Executive Director of Mud Theatre Project, a non-profit organization that produces original plays as a tool for community organizing and healthy emotional growth. Mud Theatre is an outgrowth of the Dixon Correctional Center Performing Arts Program, which Brian also founded, in 2018. Under Brian’s guidance, the Dixon Performing Arts Program won multiple PEN America National Prison Writing Awards. Brian holds an Associates Degree from Lakeland College, is a certified Paralegal, and has worked as a Civics Peer Educator, HIV/AIDS Peer Educator, and Literacy Instructor.
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 Emerita
Jobi Cates (she/her/hers)
Executive Director Emerita
Jobi Cates is the Founder and Executive Director Emerita of Restore Justice, a statewide criminal justice reform organization focused on long-term incarceration and its impact on individuals, families, and communities. Jobi led Restore Justice as Executive Director from its founding until 2024. 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)
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.
Lizzie Lewandowski (she/her/hers)
Communications Manager
Lizzie Lewandowski (she/her/hers)
Communications Manager
Lizzie Lewandowski is the Communications Manager at Restore Justice. Lizzie works on the website, media relations, social media, storytelling, and messaging. She originally joined Restore Justice in 2022 as an intern while completing her Master’s in Social Work and Social Policy at The University of Chicago. She is thrilled to return to Restore Justice and leverage skills from her background in marketing and public relations in this new capacity.
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 Research, Communications and Engagement Specialist. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago. At Restore Justice, she is working on a research project to document and share the stories of people who served or are currently serving extreme sentences in Illinois. Michele is passionate about human rights, social justice, and equal opportunity. She has over a decade of academic and professional experience in teaching and research. She is inspired by love, compassion, and empathy. In her spare time, Michele enjoys reading, as well as playing Scrabble and tennis.
Wendell Robinson (he/him/his)
Executive Director
Wendell Robinson (he/him/his)
Executive Director
Wendell Robinson is the Executive Director of Restore Justice. He initially joined us as an apprentice to Jobi Cates. He went on to create and lead the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program to cultivate non-profit management skills among people returning to the community following extreme sentences. Wendell is a dedicated leader and passionate advocate, bringing unique expertise to the role of Executive Director.
“My journey with Restore Justice started before I came home from prison,” Wendell said. “The organization has provided me the opportunity to work alongside my passion and grow in ways that were unimaginable. It’s beyond an honor to lead this work that can be transformative to so many others.”
Wendell served more than 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 starting his 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)