Ann Jacobs, Director
Ann joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute in May 2011 with over forty years of experience in the criminal justice field. For nearly two decades, Ms. Jacobs served as the Executive Director of the Women’s Prison Association (WPA) in New York. The WPA is the nation’s oldest and largest social service and advocacy organization for incarcerated women, formerly incarcerated women, and their families. During her time at WPA, she directed 120 staff members who served over 2,500 women and their families per year at five community sites, the city jail, and four women’s prisons in New York State. Under Ms. Jacobs’ leadership, WPA’s budget expanded from $500,000 in 1990 to a budget of $8.5 million at the time her of departure in 2008.Ms. Jacobs has served as a national spokesperson, consultant and trainer on a range of issues including gender, families and criminal justice, as well as associated issues of substance abuse, mental health, health, housing, child welfare and employment. Ms. Jacobs has designed and implemented innovative programs for women and families involved in the criminal justice system and has also served as a consultant to the National Institute of Corrections and Annie E. Casey Foundation, among others.As a recognized advocate and reformer, Ms. Jacobs also founded the Women’s Justice Alliance, a consortium of over 100 service providers in New York State; she created the Institute on Women in Criminal Justice, a national policy center dedicated to improving the policies and practices affecting women in the criminal justice system; and the Women’s Advocacy Project, a program in public policy and civic involvement for formerly incarcerated women. Previously, Jacobs was responsible for oversight of the city’s five public safety agencies for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Operations and served as the Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator from 1986 to 1990. Earlier in her career, Ms. Jacobs worked at the Pretrial Services Resource Center and the National Institute for Dispute Resolution. Her experience encompasses work in both the juvenile and adult justice systems, at the local and national levels.Ms. Jacobs earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park and attended the University of Baltimore Law School.

Stacie Sanchez, Senior Project Director of NYC Justice Corps
Stacie joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute as the Senior Project Director for the NYC Justice Corps in September 2012.  Her primary responsibility is to collaborate with the Justice Corps conveners and provide oversight for the administration of the program.  Prior to joining PRI, Ms. Sanchez spent two years in Sunset Park as the founding director of the Sunset Park Alliance for Youth in Brooklyn, NY. Ms. Sanchez led a community-based collaborative of existing youth and workforce development agencies in Sunset Park. These agencies worked together with a united goal to reconnect youth, ages 16-24, to the classroom and the workplace. Ms. Sanchez also served at The After-School Corporation (TASC), where she held multiple roles including the Program Coordinator for the Summer Jobs Program, Program Officer for the City Connection program, which assisted approximately 100 youth at risk of failing to graduate from high school; she also launched the Scholars in Training program, an 18-month initiative that served over 200 teens that encountered or were at risk of entering the juvenile justice system.  Ms. Sanchez holds a Master’s of Science in Social Work from Columbia University, with a focus on social policy and research. As a student, she worked in Citywide Education and Youth Services at the New York Mayor’s Office. During her tenure there, Ms. Sanchez worked to improve service delivery for the New York City Adult Literacy Initiative (NYCALI). Ms. Sanchez also worked at Little Flower Children and Family Services with the Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI), the American Red Cross September 11th Recovery Program as a Family Support Specialist and with Columbia University’s Early Head Start.

Bianca van Heydoorn, Director of Education Initiatives
Bianca joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute as the Director of Educational Initiatives in August 2012. Her primary responsibility is to oversee projects related to increasing engagement, enrollment and retention in higher education for individuals with criminal justice histories. She works closely with institutions of higher education, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and other partners on existing projects as well as developing strategies for future initiatives.  Bianca comes to PRI with ten years of experience in direct service and program implementation with justice involved populations. Prior to joining PRI, she provided educational and career counseling to young men at Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO), a reentry program in East Harlem. In addition, Bianca’s previous experience includes employment at the Vera Institute of Justice, Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) and Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) where she worked on juvenile justice reform, youth development, commercial sexual exploitation (CSEC), discharge planning and building government and community partnerships.  She was also a 2007-2009 F.A.O. Schwarz Family Foundation Fellow and is published in the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice. Bianca graduated Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Correctional Sociology from the CUNY Baccalaureate Program for Interdisciplinary Studies and earned a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Daonese Johnson-Colón, Director of Operations 
Daonese joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute as the Director of Operations in June 2012.  She ensures sound contractual and financial management of the Institute. She is also responsible for administering the National Online Certificate Course in Reentry (NOCCR) and tracking project management.  Daonese comes to PRI with eight years of experience in higher education administration. Before joining our team, she was the business manager for the Baruch College Survey Research unit. She is a recipient of the NAACP Minority Achievement Recognition Award. Daonese graduated Summa cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Paralegal Studies and earned a Master’s in Legal Studies from Kaplan University.

Melissa Pognon, Project Coordinator
Melissa joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute as the Project Coordinator of the Pinkerton Fellowship Initiative (PFI) in June 2012.  Before joining our team, she worked at the Center for Civic Engagement at Northwestern University where one of her projects was to develop and manage music mentorship programs for incarcerated young men at Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Melissa graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice as a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. She went on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was a Davis-Putter Peace and Justice Scholar and earned a joint Master’s degree in Human and Community Development and Urban and Regional Planning. 

Krystlelynn Caraballo, Administrative Assistant                                     
Krystlelynn joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute as the Administrative Assistant in June 2012.  She serves as staff mentor for the Prisoner Reentry Education and Peer-Support (P.R.E.P.) Club, manages office operations and provides support to all PRI projects. She was a Presidential Intern for John Jay College President Jeremy Travis and assisted in background research for his speeches and correspondence.  She was a TSY Mentor for Adolescent Offenders at Midtown Community Court for a year and later participated as a student volunteer in the Prison to College Pipeline Program where she traveled to Otisville Correctional Facility once a month and attended learning exchanges alongside incarcerated students.  She has received awards on a local and National level for her leadership and work toward humanitarian goals.  Krystlelynn earned a Bachelor’s degree in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Matthew Bond, Administrative Assistant
Matthew joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute as the Administrative Assistant in March 2013. He coordinates event logistics and communications, assists with the maintenance of the PRI website and provides support to all PRI projects.  After working in the publishing field, Matt entered the realm of criminal justice reform as an intern at the Midtown Community Court. At Midtown he focused largely on helping formerly incarcerated adults seek employment and acclimate to society, and he worked with youths arrested for low-level offenses. Matt then transitioned to the Center for Court Innovation (Midtown’s parent organization), where he worked with the Greenpoint Youth Court and contributed to other projects to promote juvenile justice reform in New York and nationwide. He has also volunteered with several political campaigns and organizations such as LIFT (Legal Information for Families Today). Matt graduated Summa cum Laude from the University of Connecticut with a degree in English and a minor in history.

Elena Sigman, Special Advisor
Elena joined the Prisoner Reentry Institute as the Special Advisor in September 2011. Her primary responsibility is to oversee the research and development of the solicitation to expand the NYC Justice Corps and manage the program’s expansion to four sites.  Ms. Sigman brings more than 20 years of nonprofit operations and management experience, including strategic planning and program design, program start-up, staff professional development, volunteer engagement, communications and grant-writing.  Previously, Ms. Sigman served as Director of Food Programs at an environmental organization and as Director of Operations at the Women’s Prison Association, among other roles.