Closing Plenary: Released but Not Free

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DeAnna R. Hoskins is a nationally recognized leader, strategist, and social justice architect with over two decades of experience advancing equity for justice-impacted individuals. A 2024–2025 White House Fellow—the first formerly incarcerated person in the program’s 57-year history—DeAnna currently serves as President and CEO of JustLeadershipUSA and founder of the JustUS Coordinating Council, a national collective informing justice policy from lived experience. DeAnna has held executive roles in three presidential administrations, including as Senior Policy Advisor for Corrections and Reentry at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she managed more than $600 million in Second Chance Act funding. She founded and led the Hamilton County Office of Reentry in Ohio and has served on boards such as the NYC Board of Corrections and River City Correctional Facility. Named one of the 100 Most Influential Black Leaders in NYC Politics and a University of Cincinnati Distinguished Alumni, DeAnna currently serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine, and advises the Aspen Institute, Columbia University’s Justice Lab, NASHP, and the National Academies of Sciences. She holds a Master’s in Criminal Justice, a Bachelor of Social Work, and is a certified Project Manager, Executive Coach, Community Health Worker, and Offender Workforce Development and Employment Specialist. Her thought leadership has been featured in PBS NewsHour, The Washington Post, The Hill, and USA Today.

Dan Slepian is an award-winning journalist at NBC News and Senior Investigative Producer at Dateline. For 30 years, he’s built trust in prison visiting rooms, followed trails, and has turned long-shot stories into national reckonings. In 2025, Slepian won the News & Documentary Emmy for The Sing Sing Chronicles. In 2024, he was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Letters From Sing Sing, an eight-episode podcast that debuted at #1 on Apple’s top charts. His debut book, The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice, was published in September 2024. Dubbed a “TV news gumshoe” by The New York Times, Slepian’s investigations have helped solve cold cases, exonerate the innocent, and inspire legal reform. At NBC, he’s produced dozens of documentaries, hidden-camera investigations, and breaking news specials — driven by relentless reporting, access, and empathy. He developed and helmed several limited series—including The Widower, a five-hour docuseries chronicling his 13-year investigation into a man accused of murdering multiple wives. Slepian is best known for uncovering wrongful convictions and exposing systemic flaws in the U.S. criminal legal system. His work on these issues has earned more than a dozen Emmy nominations for stories that challenged institutions and changed lives. For more than a decade, he has collaborated closely with anchor Lester Holt on justice-focused reporting. Their projects include Justice for All, a weeklong series that led to two Emmy-nominated specials: Life Inside, in which they spent two nights on death row at Angola Prison in Louisiana, and a historic town hall inside Sing Sing, the first ever broadcast from a maximum-security prison. In 2018, Slepian secured exclusive access to rapper Meek Mill on the day of his high-profile release from prison. Dateline’s special Dreams and Nightmares featured Holt’s interview with Mill, just hours after he walked free. Slepian’s reporting has been featured by outlets including The New York Times, Meet the Press, PBS NewsHour, Today, Vanity Fair, NBC Nightly News, Rolling Stone, People, Vibe, The Hollywood Reporter, and the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard. Slepian is also a co-founder of the nonprofit Voices From Within, which provides storytelling and mentorship for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. B

Dr. Kendall L. Taylor is a nationally recognized voice in criminal justice reform, behavioral transformation, and leadership development for justice-impacted populations. After serving 17 years on probation without a single behavioral mandate, Dr. Taylor transformed his lived experience into one of the most dynamic reentry models in the nation. He is the Founder & CEO of Salute1st, LLC®, a trademarked leadership and emotional development program designed to reduce recidivism by addressing the root causes of criminogenic behavior. A two-time gunshot survivor and former drug dealer, Dr. Taylor's life is a testament to transformation, perseverance, and purpose. Today, his organization partners with corrections departments, schools, major corporations and reentry programs across the country—delivering culturally responsive, trauma-informed curriculum that activates leadership from the inside out. He has received numerous national awards, been featured on magazine covers, and is an alumnus of Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business Executive Program. His signature approach to perspective realignment, emotional mastery, and behavioral accountability is changing lives—both behind and beyond the wall. Whether speaking to justice officials or system-impacted youth, Dr. Taylor stands as proof: true rehabilitation starts with rebuilding the human spirit.

Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez is an American actor-activist who exemplifies resilience and dedication to legal reform. Released in 2021 through executive clemency, JJ met with President Biden to discuss justice reform at the White House. During his incarceration, he led initiatives at Sing Sing, including organizing programs like Voices From Within, TEDx events, and advancing education through Hudson Link and Columbia University. JJ’s advocacy expanded through projects like the Pulitzer Prize Finalist podcast Letters from Sing Sing, the book The Sing Sing Files, and the Emmy Award-winning MSNBC/NBC News Studios docuseries The Sing Sing Chronicles. His role in the three-time Oscar-nominated A24 movie “Sing Sing” further amplified his voice on wrongful convictions. After a 27-year battle with the legal system, JJ was exonerated on September 30, 2024, in Manhattan Supreme Court, marking one of the most impactful cases in U.S. history. His multifaceted efforts continue to drive meaningful change and amplify the voices of the marginalized. JJ now serves his community nationally as the Program Director at the https://www.douglassproject.org/ Frederick Douglass Project for Justice and locally as the Co-founder and Executive Director of Voices From Within based in New York.