Glenn Martin

Glenn E. Martin is founder and president of JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), an organization dedicated to cutting the US correctional population in half by 2030, and founder of the #CLOSErikers campaign. His experience with incarceration — six years in a New York State prison — has informed his career, which has included positions at the Legal Action Center and the Fortune Society, working with former prisoners. Martin has been recognized with honors such as the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the 2014 Echoing Green Black Male Achievement Fellowship. In 2015, he was invited to the White House to discuss JLUSA’s efforts, and he regularly comments on criminal justice issues.

Glenn E. Martin is the President and Founder of JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), an organization dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. He is part of the vanguard of advocates working to make that future a reality. His goal is to amplify the voice of the people most impacted, and to position them as reform leaders. At its core, JLUSA challenges the assumption that formerly incarcerated people lack the skills to thoughtfully weigh in on policy reform. Rather, JLUSA is based on the principle that people closest to the problem are also the people closest to its solution.

Mr. Martin speaks from personal experience, having spent six years incarcerated in a New York State prison in the early 1990s. That experience has informed his career, which has been recognized with honors such as the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, 2017 Brooke Russell Astor Award, and the 2014 Echoing Green Black Male Achievement Fellowship. Mr. Martin is also the founder of the #CLOSErikers campaign. Prior to founding JLUSA, he was the Vice President of The Fortune Society, the Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center, and the co-founder of the Education from the Inside Out Coalition.