Our Team
Our Founders
The Remedy Project was founded by David Simpson, who spent 10 years in federal prison learning the administrative remedy process and made it his personal mission to continue that advocacy on the outside. Alongside David, The Remedy Project is co-directed by Anna Sugrue, a Barnard College graduate who met David in a Columbia University Center for Justice class in the fall of 2018, while she was an undergraduate and he was a Justice-in-Education scholar. Led by David’s vision and expertise and assisted by Anna’s campus organizing experience, they launched the Remedy Project (then known at the Student Justice League) in January 2020. |
Our Students
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Our work is lead by hundreds of passionate college and high school students across the country. We currently have active chapters at Columbia University, Binghamton University, Yale University, and Cherry Creek High School, along with dozens of student volunteers working with us nationally. Students write administrative remedies for our incarcerated members, coordinate case work, publish stories and organize actions about the conditions our members are suffering, play a key role in our national development, and build the movement to end human rights crisis in the prison system. If you are a student interested in working with us, sign-up to volunteer at action.theremedyproj.org. |
Our Lawyer
Tolu Lawal joined the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law as a fellow in September 2022. Prior to joining the Center, she was a Racial Justice Legal Fellow with the New York City Commission on Human Rights, working on legislative and policy analysis, public education and community collaboration, legal research and restorative/transformative justice through a race-specific focus. While a student at NYU Law, she served as the Co-Chair of the Black Allied Law Student Association (BALSA) and one of the lead organizers of the Racism Lives Here Too campaign. She worked at the Center as an intern in 2017, as well as an intern at the ACLU Racial Justice Project in 2018, and with NYU's Juvenile Defenders Clinic from 2018 to 2019. She also engages in advocacy, supporting Black and Brown-led groups committed to charting the road to liberation for all people, particularly those who are formerly incarcerated. She currently provides legal support to the Justice Impact Alliance. She is also a co-founder and co-lead organizer of Unlock the Bar (UTB), a New York-based campaign and coalition of allied and systems-impacted law students and lawyers who are advocating for a just and equitable legal profession. She received her J.D. from New York University Law School in the Class of 2019 and received her B.A. from Duke University in 2014
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Our Board of Directors
Anna Sugrue is the co-founder and co-director of The Remedy Project. You can reach Anna at anna@theremedyproj.org.
David Simpson is the co-founder and co-director of The Remedy Project. You can reach David at dsimpson@theremedyproj.org. Indrani Nicodemus Rivera is a dedicated criminal legal and prison reform advocate. As an event producer, she focuses on raising awareness, fundraising and building community for various criminal legal organizations. Most notably, Indrani produced events for the Innocence Project, JLUSA and the Fortune Society. She holds membership on The Remedy Project board and with Parole Preparation Project's Anti-Racist Working Group. She is an Emerson College alumni, received a Navigator Certificate in Human Services and Community Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and completed NYS Peer certification training. Dr. Valeria Saladino is a clinical psychologist and criminologist with a PhD in Developmental Psychology and PostDoc in Clinical Psychology at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio in Italy. She is interested in addiction, sexual offending, and the use of new technologies in the field of treatment and she has published articles and books on the topic. She works in the University Mercatorum of Rome as a professor and collaborates with the University of Salerno and “Magna Graecia” University of Catanzaro. She also works in adult Italian Correctional Facilities as a psychologist. She was on the founding team of The Remedy Project while a visiting scholar at Columbia University Jerry Boies, Esq is a highly successful trial lawyer who has represented clients in a wide range of high-profile cases across the United States. He has also served as local counsel for national law firms and Fortune 500 companies, providing strategic advice and handling complex litigation. He is a skilled trial lawyer in individual, class, and collective actions, representing both employees and employers. Additionally, he has championed civil rights cases, particularly those involving violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, advocating for equality and non-discrimination. Mr. Boies is fluent in Haitian Creole and French, and he actively engages in community service, including coaching soccer and serving on advisory boards. DeVon Thompson is the student member of the Board of Directors. He is a sophomore Kludge Scholar at Columbia College, where he is studying economics, political science, and human rights. DeVon's particular interest in criminal justice reform stems from a personal connection to the negative effects of the criminal justice system on his family. This personal connection has fueled his passion for criminal justice reform, motivating him to advocate for change. This could be you! The Remedy Project is currently recruiting new members to expand the board of directors. If you're interested, please email anna@theremedyproj.org |