Law Review Symposium: Prisoners' Rights: Protecting Civil Liberties Behind Bars & Beyond
The Roger Williams University Law Review's newest journal, Justice for All, proudly presents a symposium focusing on the importance of advocating for prisoners' rights to build a fair and equally opportunistic system in which all rights are protected. Speakers will discuss incarcerated individuals' access to resources while in prison, constitutional rights violations and the protections against them, and how advocates look to protecting prisoners beyond their incarceration.
Registration has closed for the RWU Law Symposium.
Agenda
8:30 - 9:00 AM
Registration & Breakfast - School of Law - 2nd Floor Atrium
9:00 - 9:30 AM
Welcome - School of Law - Law 283
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Panel 1: Access to Resources
- Nick Horton, Co-Executive Director, Open Doors RI
- Michael Mushlin, Professor of Law Emeritus, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
- Therese Zink, MD, MPH, Providence Books Through Bars
While incarcerated, prisoners often lose access to a variety of resources that were available to them before, including the ability to freely communicate with their loved ones, access to gender affirming care and protections against sexual violence, and a free flow of education and reading materials. Many advocates therefore push for prisons to make resources more readily available to incarcerated individuals. Speakers in this panel will discuss their experiences in prison policy reform and how they are leading the charge in opening up access in prisons.
Moderated by: Nicole P. Dyszlewski and Jack Oleske
10:45 AM – 11:45 AM
Panel 2: Constitutional Violations and Protections
Representative Cherie L. Cruz (Dist. 58, Pawtucket)
Mac Hudson, Emerson Prison Initiative
Liz Komar, Sentencing Reform Counsel, Sentencing Project
Brandon Robinson, Campaign and Policy Director, Open Doors RI
Celeste Trusty, State Legislative Affairs Director, FAMM
The U.S. Constitution offers protections for individuals in the United States, and incarcerated individuals are no exception. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 allows individuals to bring suit against federal and state actors for constitutional rights violations, giving rise to civil suits by incarcerated individuals against prisons and prison officials for constitutional violations such as religious discrimination under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) or other violations under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Speakers in this panel will discuss pre-incarceration protections and advocacy, voting rights at the local and federal levels, their experiences bringing civil suits against prisons, and their experiences as incarcerated individuals.
Moderated by: Diana Hassel and Carter Hazzard
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Keynote Speaker - Tim Gumkowski, Senior Staff Attorney, Innocence Project
The Innocence Project is a non-profit organization that works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. The work of the Innocence Project is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism and has helped free more than 250 innocent people from prison.
Introduction by Shannon Heery
1:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Lunch - School of Law - 2nd Floor Atrium
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Fireside Chat
A fireside chat with The Honorable William E. Smith, former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, and The Honorable Patricia Sullivan, creator of the Rhode Island Hope Court, will discuss their pursuits of justice from within the judiciary, taking questions from attendees.
Moderated by: Andrew Dunphy
About the Speakers
Representative Cherie L. Cruz
Member, House Judiciary Committee
Member, House Municipal Government and Housing Committee
Member, Joint Commission on Reducing Recidivism of Women
Rep. Cruz was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 2022 and is a 2020 JLUSA LwC Alumni who has transcended three generations of familial incarceration. She is a first-generation college graduate with a Bachelor’s degree cum laude and Master’s from Brown University. Rep. Cruz was named RI ACLU Lay Leader of the Decade in 2019 and has grassroots organizing experience in RI from the Right to Vote, Cannabis Legalization and automatic record clearance and Parent’s Right to Volunteer in their children’s school. Rep. Cruz brings her passion and lived experience to her work as a State Representative and also in her role as a tenant organizer with ReclaimRI empowering tenants to organize their own tenant union to challenge the power imbalance of tenants to landlords. She has also served as a board member of The Reentry Campus Program, The Transcending Through Education Foundation, and the executive board of the RI ACLU, and a Co-Founder of the Formerly Incarcerated Union of Rhode Island. She is currently working on legislation to fully end the practice of prison gerrymandering in RI, expanding the access of the right to vote to eligible incarcerated voters and expanding access to expungement among other criminal legal reform legislation.
Andrew Dunphy
Legal Fellow, Rhode Island Center for Justice
Following a thirty-year career as a federal agent, Andrew Dunphy graduated from the Roger Williams School of Law in May 2025. During his 2L and 3L years, Andrew worked in the RWU Prisoners’ Rights Clinic, where he pursued civil rights litigation on behalf of those incarcerated within the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. Andrew is currently a Legal Fellow at the Rhode Island Center for Justice, where he works on eviction defense and prisoners’ rights.
Nicole P. Dyszlewski
Nicole P. Dyszlewski serves as the Assistant Dean for Curricular Innovation and Professor at Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Everywhere she goes she brings bold ideas, critical thinking, and a serious commitment to justice (with just a hint of sparkle). Nicole holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, a B.A. from Hofstra University, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Rhode Island. She’s a member of the bar in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Nicole’s work centers on building a more inclusive and equitable legal system. Her areas of focus include DEIB pedagogy in law schools, mass incarceration, and access to information—topics where she brings both a lawyer’s insightful analysis and a librarian’s relentless curiosity.
Nicole is the co-editor of the Integrating Doctrine & Diversity book series, the host of the Integrating Doctrine and Diversity webinar series, and a co-author of the recently published casebook, Race and the Foundations of American Law.
Nicole is deeply involved in, and committed to, the work of the Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is the co-editor and a contributor to Volume 5 of the ADI’s Building An Antiracist Law School, Legal Academy, and Legal Profession book series. She is a senior systems designer and teacher in the ADI’s Antiracist Leadership Certificate program.
She is also the co-host of the Law 401: Legal Issues Decoded podcast and was one of the founders and leaders of the Rhode Island Freedom to Read Coalition.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Tim Gumkowski, Esq. L'06
Senior Staff Attorney, Innocence Project
A graduate of Roger Williams University School of Law, Tim Gumkowski is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Post-Conviction Litigation Department of the Innocence Project in New York City. The Innocence Project is a non-profit organization that works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. The work of the Innocence Project is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism. The Innocence Project has helped free more than 250 innocent people from prison. As a Senior Staff Attorney, Tim investigates and litigates cases on behalf of clients across the country. The focus of Tim’s work is on locating biological evidence and subjecting that evidence to modern DNA testing or other scientific advancements that could prove his clients’ innocence. He works closely with a variety of experts and both state and private laboratories. As part of his work, Tim occasionally works with local prosecutors’ offices in re-investigating and litigating these issues. Tim also serves as a seminar instructor and supervising attorney for the Innocence Project Post-Conviction Clinic with NYU Law School. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Tim spent over six years representing men and women on Texas’s death row in post-conviction proceedings in state and federal court, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Tim began his legal career after graduating from RWUSOL as a staff attorney for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals before becoming a public defender in Brooklyn, NY, where he represented indigent clients facing criminal charges for nearly a decade.
Diana Hassel
Professor of Law, Roger Williams University School of Law
Professor Diana Hassel teaches constitutional law, civil rights, critical race theory, and race and the law. She writes in the areas of civil rights litigation, due process, and integrating issues of racial justice into the law school curriculum.
She is one of designers of the RWU Law required course -- Race and Foundations of American Law and is a co-author with Monica Teixeira de Sousa and Nicole Dyszlewski of the case book, Race and the Foundation of American Law, released in 2025.
Professor Hassel earned her BA from Mount Holyoke College and her JD from Rutgers Law School – Newark.
Carter Hazzard
Roger Williams University School of Law Student
Carter Hazzard is a second-year law student at Roger Williams School of Law. With a demonstrated interest in both criminal and family law, Carter spent last summer working with Rhode Island Legal Services. Looking forward, he is thrilled to spend this upcoming summer as a Rule 9 Student Attorney with the Rhode Island Public Defenders. During the school year, Carter also assists Professor Emily Sack as a Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant for the first year criminal law course and is a member of the Law Review. Outside of the classroom Carter enjoys hiking and cycling.
Shannon Heery
Professor of Law, Roger Williams University School of Law
Shannon Heery joined the Roger Williams University School of Law faculty in July 2025. Prior to joining RWU Law, Professor Heery taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Evidence at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She currently serves as the Reporter for the Advisory Committee to the Vermont Supreme Court on the Rules of Criminal Procedure.
She was previously a felony trial attorney with the Baltimore City Maryland Office of the Public Defender and a senior trial attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services in Brooklyn, New York. While at Brooklyn Defender Services, she co-founded the DNA and Forensics Division that is now a leader in challenging the admissibility of forensic evidence in criminal trials.
Professor Heery received her J.D., cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nick Horton
Co-Executive Director, OpenDoors
Nick Horton is the Co-Executive Director of OpenDoors, the first and largest agency in Rhode Island dedicated to helping justice involved individuals, where he has worked since 2004. Opendoors operates over 300 beds of housing, including three homeless shelters, four transitional recovery houses, and the only permanent supportive housing facility in the state for people with criminal records. Mr. Horton has helped lead the agency through multiple successful Rhode Island policy campaigns, including the effort to end debtor’s prison, close the “guilty while innocent” probation violation loophole, and return the right to vote to people on probation and parole. He oversaw the 9 Yards program, an ambitious prison reentry program which proved intensive support can reduce recidivism. He launched the OpenDoors program to provide GLP-1 addiction treatment access to clients, making OpenDoors the only social service provider in the country to provide the opportunity, which was recently featured in the New York Times.
Mac Hudson
Emerson Prison Initiative
Mac Hudson is a community organizer, activist, and agent for change. He works as a paralegal/community liaison with the Racial Equity in Corrections Initiative (REICI) at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts. In that role, he fights against the systemic racism that inflicts disparate harm on Black and Brown people in the Massachusetts criminal legal system. Mac understands firsthand racial inequities – he served 33 years in the Massachusetts Department of Correction, most of which for a crime he did not commit. While incarcerated, as a pro se litigator Mac successfully sued the Department of Correction many times, including winning Halal meals, Jumu’ah services and access to books in solitary confinement. He also earned his B.A. in Media, Literature and Culture with the Emerson Prison Initiative.
Mac is the Founder and Executive Director of AccessMA and its From Liabilities to Contributors initiative. Mac also conceived, directed, and produced the documentary film Behind the Wall: Facing Structural Racism in the Massachusetts Prison System. His second documentary, Massissippi, tells the stories of three formerly incarcerated Black Bostonians and was selected for 8 film festivals in the US and abroad and has won many awards.
In July 2025, Mac was appointed by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell to serve on the Special Commission on Correctional Consolidation and Collaboration. Mac previously served on Andrea Campbell’s transition team, identifying community priorities to advance racial justice and equity.
On January 20, 2025, AccessMA was recognized for its hard work and community commitment and awarded citations from the City of Boston, the Boston City Council, the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate.
Liz Komar
Sentencing Reform Counsel, The Sentencing Project
Liz Komar advocates for an end to extreme sentencing in the state and federal criminal legal systems by supporting the work of the Sentencing Project’s Campaign to End Life Imprisonment, leading federal advocacy efforts, and managing amicus litigation activities. Her priorities include promoting sentencing second chances, ending life without parole sentences, and capping maximum sentences at 20 years.
Prior to joining the Sentencing Project, Komar was the Director of Strategic Initiatives and a member of the leadership team at Fair and Just Prosecution, where she led FJP’s prosecutorial reform policy work across a wide array of areas. Komar also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County (Brooklyn), NY and as an Attorney Advisor in the US Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. Komar received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her juris doctorate from Brooklyn Law School.
Michael B. Mushlin is Professor of Law Emeritus at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, where he also served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. During his tenure, he held two distinguished professorships: the Charles A. Frueauff Research Professorship (1991–1992) and the James D. Hopkins Chair in Law (2005–2007).
Before entering academia, Professor Mushlin practiced law for 15 years as a public interest and civil rights attorney. He served as Associate Director of the Children’s Rights Project of the ACLU, Project Director of the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society of New York, and Staff Counsel with Harlem Assertion of Rights Inc.
He is the author of Rights of Prisoners (5th ed., Thomson/Reuters), a four-volume treatise, and New York Evidence with Objections (6th ed., National Institute of Trial Advocacy, forthcoming 2026) (with Lissa Griffin and Jo Ann Harris), along with numerous law review articles, book chapters, and op-eds.
Professor Mushlin was a member of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on the Legal Status of Prisoners, which drafted the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Treatment of Prisoners, later approved by the ABA House of Delegates. He is a past Chair of the Correctional Association of New York, the Osborne Association, and the Corrections Committee of the New York City Bar Association, where he led an investigation into conditions on New York’s death row.
Currently, he serves by appointment of the Chief Administrative Judge of New York on the Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure of the New York State Unified Court System, where he chairs its Subcommittee on Judicial Visits to Prisons and Jails.
He earned his J.D., cum laude, from Northwestern University and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University.
Jack Oleske
Roger Williams University School of Law Student
Jack Oleske is a third year law student at Roger Williams University School of Law. Dedicated to the public interest, he has worked as a Rule 9 Student Attorney for the Rhode Island Public Defenders representing indigent clients. In addition, he now externs with the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office doing Civil Asset Forfeitures. Jack focuses on criminal law, and will be joining the Ocean County Criminal Court's as a Clerk following graduation. Jack is an avid surfer, a curious student, and a diligent worker.
Brandon Robinson
Campaign and Policy Director, Open Doors RI
Brandon Robinson is a lifelong resident of Providence, Rhode Island, and the Lockwood Plaza community. After serving more than 15 years in prison, he transformed his life through education, leadership, and a deep commitment to community advocacy.
Brandon earned a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership and Change from College Unbound and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Roger Williams University. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate (PsyD) in Organizational Leadership and Psychology at William James College.
With a strong foundation in direct marketing, Brandon has represented leading Fortune 500 companies such as Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Today, he is the Founder and Executive Director of two organizations — the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Initiative (JDPI) and Higher Level Management & Consulting — both dedicated to fostering leadership, empowerment, and systemic change.
In addition to his entrepreneurial and advocacy work, Brandon serves as a Board Member and Lab Faculty at College Unbound, helping to guide and mentor the next generation of community leaders.
He also serves as the Campaign and Policy Director at Open Doors, where he leads the Stop Torture RI Coalition. In this capacity, Brandon is at the forefront of efforts to advance key criminal justice reforms, including Solitary Confinement Reform, Body Cameras for RI Correctional Staff (the Willie Washington Jr. Act), and expanded Expungement and Clean Slate Laws. Brandon’s journey from incarceration to inspiration is a testament to his resilience, vision, and unwavering dedication to justice, equity, and community transformation.
The Hon. William E. Smith
Senior United States District Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
Judge William E. Smith was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island by President George W. Bush in 2002. He served as Chief Judge from 2013 to 2019 and was the youngest person ever to serve as chief judge in the District of Rhode Island. He assumed senior status in January 2025.
Judge Smith is active in federal judicial administration and education, serving on the Judicial Conference Committees on Judicial Resources, Information Technology, and Financial Disclosure; as chair of the Federal Judicial Center’s Committee on District Judge education; and as a mentor for newly appointed and mid-career judges. He serves on numerous community boards and is the past chair of the board of the Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island, where he has taught as an Adjunct Professor for fifteen years.
Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Smith was a partner at Edwards & Angell in Providence, Rhode Island, the firm he joined after graduating from law school. His practice focused primarily in labor and employment law and representation of state and municipal agencies, colleges and universities, non-profits, and private employers. His private law practice years were interrupted by his service as Staff Director of the Rhode Island Office of U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee.
Judge Smith was born in Boise, Idaho; he received B.A. and J.D. (cum laude) degrees from Georgetown University. While studying at Georgetown, he worked as an aid in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (chaired by Senator Frank Church of Idaho), and he then worked on Senator Church’s 1980 re-election campaign. In 2014, Judge Smith received the Citizen of the Year Award from the Rhode Island Association for Justice. In 2019, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Bryant University and was awarded the Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger Judicial Excellence Award from the Rhode Island Bar Association for “exemplifying and encouraging the highest level of competence, integrity, judicial temperament, ethical conduct and professionalism.” In 2023, he received the Neil J. Houston, Jr. Memorial Award for “dedicated service and citizen contribution toward the justice profession and the public interest” from Rhode Island Justice Assistance. In 2024, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Roger Williams University School of Law and the Olin Thompson Justice Award from the Bench and Bar of the U.S. District Court.
Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan
United States District Court, Rhode Island
Magistrate Patricia A. Sullivan has served as a Magistrate Judge in the District of Rhode Island since October 1, 2012. Judge Sullivan graduated from Wellesley College with honors in 1973, and Georgetown University Law Center magna cum laude in 1978. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Sullivan was a private litigator at Edwards & Angell, LLP for 34 years,
Judge Sullivan played an integral role in the success of the District’s HOPE (Helping Offenders Prepare for reEntry) Court, an alternative supervision reentry court program focused on supporting individuals returning to the community after incarceration. She has served as the Presiding Judicial Officer for the HOPE Court since 2014. Her dedication to HOPE Court reflects her deep belief in the potential for rehabilitation and second chances. Her efforts have changed lives across the District.
Celeste Trusty
State Legislative Affairs Director, FAMM
Celeste Trusty serves as State Legislative Affairs Director for FAMM, where she works with impacted community members, lawmakers, and other stakeholders to advocate reforms to our overly-punitive sentencing laws and policies.
During her tenure as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons in the final year of Governor Tom Wolf's administration, Ms. Trusty oversaw the commonwealth’s clemency process and supported the administration’s goals of an historic dedication to second chances. Celeste also served as political director for a successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2021 prior to her appointment as Secretary of the PA Board of Pardons.
Ms. Trusty was appointed by Gov. Wolf to serve on the Judicial Conduct Board of PA in 2020, where she served as a Board member from 2020 to 2022 as Board Secretary from 2021 to 2022, and on the personnel committee from 2020 to 2022. Ms. Trusty currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Public Defender’s Office of Philadelphia. Ms. Trusty was named in City & State PA’s 2023 Law Power 100, 2023 Power of Diversity Black 100, 2024 40 in their 40s, and 2024 & 2025 Black Trailblazers lists.
A proud former volunteer for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, you can see Celeste in “The Prosecution: Wrong Place, Wrong Time” episode of The Innocence Files on Netflix, which details the harrowing and powerful story of Chester Hollman’s 28-year fight for freedom from a wrongful conviction.
Celeste is dedicated to the liberation of people impacted by the legal system and is so grateful for the opportunity to work closely with so many incredible organizations, lawmakers, and community members to transform our system into one that more closely resembles justice.
Therese Zink, MD, MPH
Professor, Department of Family Medicine/Warren Alpert Medical School and the School of Public Health at Brown University
Therese Zink, MD, MPH is a family physician and professor in the Department of Family Medicine /Warren Alpert Medical School and the School of Public Health at Brown University.
Zink has volunteered with Providence Books Through Bars for six plus years and is incharge of sorting through the 300+ book requests we receive from prisoners each month.
Prov BTB is a 501c3 organization that was founded over 20 years ago with the mission to use donated books to provide free reading material for incarcerated people nationwide. We believe reading is a basic human right.
Additional details regarding the Roger Williams University Law Review
Registration
- General Admission: $50 per person
- Non-Profit/Government: $25 per person
- RWU Law New Alumni (Classes of 2020-2025): $25 per person
- Student: $15 per person
- Member of the Judiciary: Complimentary *Code Required
- RWU Law Student: Complimentary *Student Code Required
- RWU Faculty/Staff: Complimentary *Code Required
Register Here - November 7 - RWU Law Review Symposium
Rhode Island MCLE Credit
4.5 Rhode Island MCLE Credits including one diversity, equity, and inclusion MCLE Credit.
Thank You To Our Partners
Special thanks to Troutman Pepper Locke and Emerson Prision Initiative
Cancellation & Refund Policy
Symposium cancellations received by Thursday, October 30, 2025, are eligible to receive a full refund less a $10 administrative fee. Cancellations received after the stated deadline will not be eligible for a refund. Cancellations are accepted via email at lawevents@rwu.edu.
Special Accommodations
Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for an event should contact the Office of Programs & Initiatives, as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements may be made. lawevents@rwu.edu
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