The RAPP collective works to dismantle the racist punishment system
Jose Hamza Saldana
Director
Jose was released from state prison in January 2018, after 38 years of incarceration and four parole denials. During his decades in prison, he obtained a college degree. More importantly, he committed himself to organizing and advocating for racial justice and meaningful changes to the criminal legal system, including transformative changes to parole and sentencing. He is an alumnus of the Resurrection Study Group, which espouses the Non-Traditional Approach to Criminal and Social Justice.
Since his release from prison, Jose has been a critical advocate pushing for key policy changes for incarcerated people and building strategic partnerships to end mass criminalization. He was chosen as RAPP’s director by Mujahid Farid and the entire RAPP leadership collective just before Farid’s passing in late 2018.
As an advocate, Jose is a prominent national speaker on issues of mass incarceration and ending life sentences. He is the recipient of the 2019 Freedom Fighter Award issued by Citizens Against Recidivism.
He mentored hundreds of men during his years inside and continues to inspire all of us with his energy, commitment, and leadership.
Contact: jose.saldana@rappcampaign.com
TeAna Taylor (they/them/theirs)
Associate director
TeAna advocates for children of incarcerated parents, informed by their father’s nearly two decades of incarceration and working with We Got Us Now and the HALT Solitary Campaign. They have been engaging their community in restorative justice work for the past five years. They created and maintained a peer mediation program at a local middle school, leading mediations between youth, parents, and teachers; facilitating circles that ranged from community building within classrooms to repairing harm between community members; providing conflict coaching sessions for students; and training students in peer mediation and conflict resolution. TeAna has also facilitated circles to address issues faced by students and faculty of color at their alma mater, SUNY Schenectady, that led to policy change for a more inclusive and diverse campus.
Contact: teana.taylor@rappcampaign.com
Jared Chausow (he/him/his)
Co-Director of Policy & Communications
Jared has worked to change state and local laws, policies, and practices for 14 years. He previously worked on the policy team at Brooklyn Defender Services, where he mobilized public defenders (criminal defense, immigration defense, family defense, and eviction defense) in the city and from across the state to support campaigns led by directly impacted people, including: bail reform, discovery reform, the #HALTsolitary Campaign, securing free phone calls in NYC jails, ending Broken Windows policing, and more. He was a volunteer member of RAPP before joining the staff.
Contact: jared.chausow@rappcampaign.com
Olivia Murphy
policy and communications associate
Olivia is a Harlem born and Bronx raised justice advocate and life coach who prides herself on being the change she wants to see. She uses her voice and her ability to engage with people to empower them to be change agents and justice seekers. As an impacted family member, she has been a voluntary RAPP member since 2022, participating in advocacy days, community outreach and more. With a background in healthcare, she is no stranger to advocating for populations who are in need of access to better treatment and overall care .
Contact: olivia.murphy@rappcampaign.com
Jose Di Lenola (he/him/his)
Clemency Campaign Director
Jose DiLenola was incarcerated at the age of 16 and served 26 years. While incarcerated he worked as a rehabilitation peer educator in relapse prevention, anger management, mental health, and mentored at-risk youth diversionary programs. Jose co-founded and served as President of the Lifer’s Organization and consulted several organizations. As the RAPP Clemency Campaign Director he is dedicated to seeing clemencies granted frequently, inclusively, and transparently in New York State.
Contact: jose.dilenola@rappcampaign.com
Christina Knowles
Development director
Christina’s background in non-profit development began in the domestic violence and human trafficking field. Prior to her role at RAPP, she worked and consulted in arts based organizations in NYC and spent some time with the National Urban League, where she supported the fundraising and management of the National Communities of Color COVID-19 Needs Assessment to advance equity in a post-pandemic world. She is the former President of CUNY Hunter’s Graduate Student Association and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature & Communications and Rhetoric from the State University of NY at Albany.
Contact: christina.knowles@rappcampaign.com
Stanley “Jamel” Bellamy
NYC regional Community Organizer
Jamel served 37.5 years of a 62.5 years-to-life sentence. He was released from a New York State prison on April 24, 2023, by way of clemency from New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul. During his incarceration he led social awareness groups, developing and implementing therapeutic programs that helped individuals identify, analyze and understand the harm, pain, and suffering their crimes caused the victim’s family, their family, and the community. He has been active in the struggle to end death by incarceration sentences, drafting re-sentencing bills and fighting to change policies that impact communities of color and marginalized communities. Since his release he has spoken before the United Nations George Floyd Mechanism, traveled to Switzerland for the 25th Annual Human Rights Conference of the United Nations, and been invited to speak at high schools, colleges and universities about his lived experience in the criminal legal system and to promote evidence based solutions to the problems of crime and punishment. He is a National Trust Fellow and has an Associates in Liberal Arts and a Bachelor’s in Science, a published author and curriculum developer.
Contact: stanley.bellamy@rappcampaign.com
Melita Corselli
Westchester/Hudson Valley Organizer
Melita is a lifelong Westchester County resident, born and raised in Yonkers and now living in North Salem. For years she has worked closely with social justice organizers to build community power, expand civic engagement, and support people directly affected by systemic injustice. Her work is rooted in both lived experience and a deep commitment to justice. As a mother of four with a fiancée directly impacted by the criminal legal system, she understands the pain, strength, and perseverance it takes to navigate a system that too often denies people dignity, fairness, and hope. She brings her voice, experience, and her heart to RAPP’s mission. She believes lasting change is possible when we organize with courage, lead with compassion, and remain grounded in our shared humanity.
Contact: melita.corselli@rappcampaign.com
Caroline Hansen (she/her/hers)
Long Island REGIONAL Community ORGANIZER
Caroline Hansen is a wife, mother, advocate, and Long Island resident. Inspired by her husband Kristian, who is currently serving a Life Without Parole sentence, Caroline became passionate about advocating for parole justice, family reunification, and dignity for incarcerated people and their loved ones. She works alongside directly impacted families, community members, and lawmakers on Long Island and across New York to support Fair & Timely Parole and Elder Parole legislation and end the cruelty of permanent punishment through grassroots organizing, public education, and storytelling. Caroline is currently pursuing her graduate’s degree in Social Work at SUNY Plattsburgh. She enjoys spending time with her daughter and being outdoors with her dog, Rosie.
Contact: caroline.hansen@rappcampaign.com
Melissa Tanis (she/her/hers)
Communications Consultant
Melissa is a Communications Consultant for RAPP, a graduate of Columbia School of Social Work, and the Policy and Communications Manager for the Center for Justice at Columbia. She has worked for over 10 years in the Communications and Policy field and supports RAPP in social media advocacy, website and graphic design, and newsletter communications. Melissa experienced parental incarceration for 22 years before her dad passed away in prison. She joined RAPP to support families and advocate for older people to be reunited with their communities, rather than be sentenced to die in prison.
Contact: melissa.tanis@rappcampaign.com
Roslyn Smith (she/her/hers)
Brooklyn Community Leader
Roz is the Beyond Incarceration Program Manager for V-Day, a nonprofit organization that vows to end violence against women, girls, and the planet. She is using her personal experience from long-term incarceration as a vehicle for her work as a criminal justice activist/advocate. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from Mercy college while incarcerated. She created a curriculum for parenting from a distance with other incarcerated mothers. She has written blogs on her lived experiences and has been featured in a documentary film titled “What I Want My Words To Do To You” from a writing workshop at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Since her release after serving 39 years, she has devoted her time between her daughter and her activist/advocacy work.
Contact: roslyn.smith@rappcampaign.com
Jeannie Colón (she/her/ella)
Bronx Community Leader
Jeannie Colón is a Bronx native who worked for a prestigious financial firm, both nationally and internationally, for over 20 years. As Group Operations Manager, she managed the groups budget, established new client relations, facilitated team outings and oversaw all philanthropic events as team leader. It was only natural she became a member when her husband introduced her to RAPP. Today, she is a Bronx Community Leader committed to ending perpetual punishment, advocating for fair and timely parole and the release of elders; she does it for her husband, José, and everyone deserving grace, compassion and redemption.
Contact: jeannie.colon@rappcampaign.com
Nawanna Snipe Tucker
NYC Community Leader
Nawanna is a native New Yorker, a published author, and a graduate of University of Phoenix, New York Theological Seminary, and Raising Our Voices Kin. She has worked with various organizations in the criminal justice area, utilizing her skills and knowledge in the forgotten communities. Nawanna is a community leader with RAPP.
Contact: nawanna.tucker@rappcampaign.com
Theresa Grady (she/her/hers)
HARLEM Community Leader
Theresa is a Community Leader with RAPP. Theresa’s husband, who is sixty-seven, is serving a forty-year prison sentence in a New York State prison. At RAPP, Theresa works to advance the Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole Bills through community outreach, door-knocking, local rallies, and more. Theresa lives in Harlem, NYC.
Contact: theresa.grady@rappcampaign.com
Vanessa Santiago
Brooklyn/Queens Community Leader and Canvasser
Vanessa served 22 years in Bedford Hills maximum security prison and, since her 2020 release, has been recognized with multiple proclamations and awards for her energetic service to communities affected by incarceration. In addition to her work with RAPP, Vanessa founded G. I. A. (Gift It Away), an organization that provides furniture to people being released from prison and others in need. She is deeply involved in advocating for pets with organizations like PALS (People and Animals Living Safely), the Urban Institute, and My Dog is My Home. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Criminal Justice Organizational Leadership.
Contact: vanessa.santiago@rappcampaign.com
Tracie Adams
Rochester Community Leader
Tracie Adams is RAPP’s Rochester Community Leader. She was born in the Astoria Projects in Queens, NYC, and relocated to Rochester in 2020. She’s been living with HIV for 22 years—undetectable!—and served three years in New York State prisons for women at Bedford Hills and Albion. Today she is a community activist and leader, speaking for those who are silent and standing for those who are weak.
Contact: tracie.adams@rappcampaign.com
Lisette Nieves
Bronx Community Leader
Lisette joined the RAPP community in 2020 to get involved with the campaign for the Elder Parole Bill as a ray of light to bring her brother home. He has been in prison for 40 years since the age of 16 and is not eligible for parole until 2031. Lisette is a proud lifelong Bronx resident who has dedicated herself to a career in youth development, education, and community organizing for thirty years. She also works for Community Connections for Youth, an organization which focuses on developing community-based alternatives to incarceration. She has a deep commitment to social justice and is grateful that her personal and professional lives intersect in the most meaningful ways. Lisette graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor’s Degree and earned her Master’s Degree in Education at Harvard University.
Contact: lisette.nieves@rappcampaign.com
Greg Mingo
Westchester Community Leader
Greg was released from prison on 9/16/21 after 40 years of incarceration for a wrongful conviction. Greg became a certified paralegal and respected jailhouse lawyer who has helped numerous men obtain their freedom or sentence reduction. He has taught domestic violence, communications, fatherhood, and much more. Upon his release he has been a champion for racial and social justice, clemency, freeing our elders, and parole reform.
Contact: greg.mingo@rappcampaign.com
Alton Lee
Hudson valley Community Leader
Originally from New Jersey Alton is not just the voice for the unfairly and elderly incarcerated men. He is a voice for many veterans being a veteran himself. Alton facilitated many programs, and was the co-founder of the R.I.E.S.A. Recognizing Individual Exceptional Strides Awards which is recognized by the Parole Board today. Alton continues to be a voice for the positive and pro-active men and the veterans that he left behind.
Contact: alton.lee@rappcampaign.com
Daryl Tolbert
LONG ISLAND Community Leader
A Long Island native, Daryl is sensitive to the systemic oppression that separate and unequal communities perpetuate. During his long sojourn, he reached out to his peers to obtain their high school diplomas and facilitated multiple rehabilitation programs. As a RAPP community leader, Daryl is committed to using his voice and experiences to advocate for voices behind bars.
Contact: daryl.tolbert@rappcampaign.com
Robert Ehrenberg
Community Leader
Robert was recently released from state prison via executive clemency after serving nearly three decades behind bars. During his incarceration, he completed two college degrees, participated in numerous rehabilitative programs, and created an educational fund for children of incarcerated persons. While behind bars he also collaborated with RAPP to advocate for parole justice. Since his release, he has continued to advocate to bring home the people he left behind. He also dedicates his time to eliminating food insecurity within our communities, building transitional housing for newly released incarcerated men and women, and is a member of the Executive Clemency Advisory Council.
Contact: robert.ehrenberg@rappcampaign.com
Mujahid Farid
RAPP Founder
RAPP was founded in 2013 by three formerly incarcerated elders: the late Mujahid Farid, who died November 20, 2018; the late Kathy Boudin, who died May 1, 2022; Laura Whitehorn; and advocate and civil rights attorney, Soffiyah Elijah.
Farid served 33 years in New York prisons. He was denied parole nine times, based solely on the nature of his original offense; as a result, his 15-years-to-life sentence turned into 33 years of incarceration. During his incarceration he earned degrees from Syracuse University, SUNY/New Paltz, and New York Theological Seminary. In 1986 he helped create the first HIV/AIDS peer education program in NY prisons—a program now taught in every NYS prison—and a college certificate program sponsored by New York Theological Seminary. He was a brilliant jailhouse lawyer.
Farid knew that his repeated parole denials reflected the reality of many long-term incarcerated people—working to change their lives while aging in prison, yet unable to be seen and evaluated for the people they had become and how they had transformed their lives, rather than for who they were at the time of their arrest. Drawing on this awareness and a political and moral commitment to uplift the people he’d left behind, soon after his 2011 release he joined with Kathy and Laura to create the country’s first organizing campaign dedicated to releasing older incarcerated people. He was awarded a 2013 Soros Justice Fellowship to launch RAPP.
Widely loved and respected, Farid spent his last days and hours at home, surrounded by his family and his RAPP and Parole Preparation Project family. His death was marked by an obituary in the New York Times.
Following the late Kathy Boudin’s release from New York State prison in 2003, she earned a PhD in social work and founded the Coming Home Program at the Spencer Cox Center for Health, Mt. Sinai/St.Luke’s, which provides health care for people returning from incarceration. In addition to her work with RAPP she was the Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Justice at Columbia University and the author of many articles and research papers on the causes and consequences of incarceration, especially as these affect women and children. When Kathy died on May 1, 2022, all of our movements suffered a terrible loss. She remains in our hearts and minds.
Coming from a long career as an attorney defending political prisoners and other incarcerated people, Soffiyah Elijah was, at the time of RAPP’s founding, the director of the Correctional Association of NY—the first woman, and the first Black person, to head that organization. She later founded the Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ), where she is Executive Director. AFJ supports, empowers, and mobilizes families with incarcerated loved ones and justice-involved individuals so that they can marshal their collective power and catalyze system change.
After Laura Whitehorn’s release from prison in 1999 she worked as senior editor at POZ Magazine and as editor in chief of Turn It Up! Staying Strong Inside, a magazine by and for incarcerated people. She helped organize “Self-Determination Inside/Our” at Interference Archive in 2015, edited the writings of the late Black Panther political prisoner Safiya Bukhari (The War Before; 2010, Feminist Press), and is a full-time volunteer organizer with RAPP.
