Community Navigator

Anthony Jones is an educator, criminal justice reform advocate, and paralegal. At the age of 20, Jones was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. While in prison Jones transformed his life, dedicating his time to pursuing higher education and his spiritual resurrection. This journey ultimately led him to a world he never knew before. Jones would eventually embrace another name becoming Anaviel Ben Rakemeyahu, growing to become a respected leader amongst his incarcerated peers. He also earned his paralegal certification, two college degrees, and became certified by the Illinois Department of Health as a peer health educator and a peer mentor. Jones helped many incarcerated citizens file successful petitions with the Illinois courts. In April 2020, Jones filed his own pro-se executive clemency petition to Governor JB Pritzker resulting in his release on July 28, 2021 after almost serving 30 years in prison. Jones continues to focus on education, which he refers to as "dedication" and helping others, believing that at the age of 50 is when we must focus on "intensified learning".

Community Navigator

Vincent Boggan is a Community Navigator and a recently returned citizen. After enduring 33 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and with the Illinois Prison Project's assistance, Boggan’s sentence was commuted by Gov. JB Pritzker on Dec. 22, 2020. Boggan was severely impacted by the system when he chose to exercise his right to a jury trial on multiple counts of armed robbery and received a 135 year sentence. Over the course of his incarceration, Boggan earned several degrees and certificates. He became a born-again Christian shortly after his arrest and has been involved in ministry for more than 30 years. During his incarceration Boggan also discovered his gift in art and has created thousands of oil paintings. Although art is one of Boggan’s greatest gifts, he has no doubt that his main calling is simply to be a cog in the wheel for eradicating mass incarceration — long term sentences in particular. This calling began more than two decades ago when Boggan started his career as a Prison Law Clerk, helping people in their fight to get out of prison.‍

Supervising Staff Attorney

The Illinois Prison Project fights to ensure that incarcerated people’s humanity and worth is seen by a legal system designed to ignore them. Through several issue-driven campaigns, IPP takes on hundreds of in-house direct representation cases annually and connects hundreds more people with pro-bono attorneys across the state. Rachel Lindner joined IPP as a Supervising Staff Attorney in October 2023. In this position Rachel supervises lawyers, law clerks, and pro bono attorneys and their caseloads on commutation petitions, medical release, administrative advocacy requests, and other release mechanisms. 

Associate Dean for Research, Professor and Co-Program Chair for School Psychology

Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Co-Director, Center for Criminal Justice

Dr. David Olson is a Professor in the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at Loyola University Chicago, and is also Co-Director of Loyola's interdisciplinary Center for Criminal Justice. Prior to his appointment at Loyola, David worked as a Senior Research Scientist at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. During his 35 years in the field of criminal justice, David has worked with a variety of federal, state and local agencies to develop and evaluate programs and policies, particularly in the area of community and institutional corrections. During his career has served as staff to, or been appointed to, a number of Illinois commissions and task forces established to address crime and incarceration.

Dr. Olson currently serves on the advisory boards of the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority through separate gubernatorial appointments, and the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices Implementation Task Force. Dr. Olson received his B.S. in Criminal Justice from Loyola University Chicago, his M.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his Ph.D. in Political Science/Public Policy Analysis from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was the recipient of the Assistant United States Attorney General’s Graduate Research Fellowship.

Co-anchor and correspondent for “Chicago Tonight”

Brandis Friedman is a co-anchor and correspondent for Chicago Tonight, and the host of Chicago Tonight: Black Voices, both on Chicago’s PBS affiliate, WTTW. Her reporting on education and criminal justice has appeared on PBS’ NewsHour and NPR’s The Takeaway. Before joining Chicago Tonight, Brandis worked as a reporter and anchor for WBBM Newsradio 780, and as a producer/reporter for WJLA-TV/ABC-7 in Washington, DC. In addition to earning multiple regional Emmy Awards for her work, she has earned multiple Peter Lisagor Awards, recognizing excellence in journalism, from the Chicago Headline Club.

Originally from Mississippi, Brandis’ work has taken her to numerous cities including Kansas City, Missouri, Little Rock, Arkansas and Wichita Falls, Texas. She has served on the board of the Chicago Headline Club, which is the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and is a member of the Education Writers Association and National Association of Black Journalists. Brandis is a graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans, where she earned a degree in Mass Communications, and Columbia University in New York City, where she earned her Master’s Degree in Journalism. Brandis lives in Evanston with her husband and two sons.

5:00 p.m. -- Light Refreshments Served

5:20 p.m. -- Opening Remarks & State of the Community

5:30 p.m. -- Keynote, Anthony Jones

5:45 p.m. -- Panel Discussion

6:30 p.m. -- Q&A 

Water Tower Campus 

111 E. Pearson St., Beane Hall, 13th Floor

Chicago, IL 60611