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PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO MEDICAL CARE
FOR EVERY PERSON INCARCERATED

OUR VALUES

We affirm that every person who is incarcerated, no matter their background, has the right to appropriate medical care. This right is guaranteed by the 8th Amendment of the Constitution. As medical professionals, we see it as our responsibility to protect this right.

We believe that people in prisons, jails, and detention centers deserve to be treated with dignity. We center our work, our language, and our actions in upholding the humanity and dignity of the people we serve.

We hold inclusion at the core of our work. We welcome opportunities to serve all incarcerated people, and invite volunteer clinicians of all backgrounds, identities, abilities, and beliefs to join us in our efforts.

WHAT WE DO

Medical Release

Get terminally-ill and incapacitated patients out of prison. We support efforts to expand “compassionate release” laws and explain to judges and parole boards how people meet medical criteria for release.

Conditions of Confinement 

Get appropriate medical care into prisons. We advocate for improved healthcare policies and practices to address people’s unmet medical needs.

Education

Get clinicians, decision-makers, and the public informed. We provide medically-grounded education on carceral health to better inform healthcare, legal, and policy decisions.

HOW IT WORKS

Step 1

Case
Request

Attorney identifIes client health concerns and reach out to MJA.

Step 2

Medical
Record Review

MJA pairs attorney with a physician expert witness who evaluates the records.

Step 3

Phone
Interview

Physician conducts a phone interview to clarify any questions with the client.

Step 4

Expert
Testimony

Physician writes up their findings with a focus on medical concerns.

KEY STATISTICS

Discover The Impact We’re Making Together

These numbers showcase the tangible impact of our work, highlighting the number of volunteer physicians mobilized, and the lives touched within the incarcerated community.

916
Case Submissions
840
Medical Volunteers
82%
Success Rate
30
Volunteer Specialities

WHO WE ARE

OUR STAFF

MARK FENIG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Mark Fenig, MD, MPH, practices and teaches emergency medicine in New York. He has a Master’s Degree in Public Health and is a 2022 Galaxy Gives Leader Fellow. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark learned of legal cases to protect people in prison from dangerous conditions. These cases required expert medical witness testimony, and when physicians volunteered to testify, the Medical Justice Alliance was born.

WILLIAM WEBER
MEDICAL DIRECTOR

William Weber, MD, MPH is an emergency physician practicing in Minneapolis. His fellowship and research have focused on the intersection of medical care and incarceration. He serves on the Public Health and Medical-Legal Committees of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Medical-Legal Committees of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

NISHI KUMAR
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL LEGAL PROJECTS

Nishi Kumar, JD, is an experienced civil rights attorney and previously the Director of Civil Litigation at the Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans, where she advocated for individuals at the intersection of mass incarceration and healthcare. She  graduated from NYU Law School and clerked for Judge Paul Watford in the Ninth Circuit and Judge Jesse Furman in the Southern District of New York. She also teaches as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School.

OUR BOARD

REBECCA SILBER
BOARD CHAIR

Becky Silber, JD, is the Director of Criminal Justice at the philanthropy Arnold Ventures where she leads AV’s work in two strategic areas: prosecution and public defense. She previously worked at the Vera Institute for Justice on a variety of issues including state level  sentencing reform, pretrial reform, and compassionate release. Becky began her career as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

JOSHUA SAFRAN
BOARD SECRETARY / GEN COUNSEL

Joshua Safran, JD, is an author, attorney, and nationally recognized advocate for survivors of domestic abuse and the wrongfully imprisoned. His seven year legal odyssey to free an incarcerated survivor of domestic violence from prison was featured in the documentary film Crime After Crime. His essays have appeared in Salon, The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post and his compelling story featured on BBC, PBS, CBS, NPR, PRX and Authors@Google. Joshua has received numerous awards and national media coverage for his pro bono criminal justice advocacy work. 

ALELUR DURAN
BOARD MEMBER

Alelur "Alex" Duran is a Program Director at Galaxy Gives overseeing its Criminal Justice Reform portfolio. He previously served as a program specialist with the Open Society Foundations supporting grant-making efforts tackling mass incarceration in the United States.

Alex's entry point into philanthropy began at the Ford Foundation as a business associate advancing its mission of addressing inequality in all its manifestations. Prior to joining Ford, he worked at the Center for Community Alternatives, where he provided counseling for men and women involved with the justice system and helped the agency execute its broader justice reform strategy. At CCA, Alex became a spokesperson in support of efforts to raise the age of criminal responsibility for adolescents in New York State.

His passion to dismantle systems of oppression come from having been impacted by the criminal legal system at a young age and being sentenced to 14 years in prison.

He has a B.A. from Bard College. His thesis, "Gang Exportation and the Reproduction of Violence: The Trinitarios in the Crucible of Mass Incarceration," provided a case study on how mass incarceration in the United States contributes to deviance amplification and the expansion of gangs to other countries.

A lover of history, Alex grew up in the boogie-down Bronx, New York.

DEBORAH J. WHITE
BOARD MEMBER

Deborah White, MD, MBA, is the vice chair and director of the department of emergency medicine at Montefiore Medical Center. The Bronx influenced her decision to become a physician and her leadership in the borough during New York City’s COVID-19 surge was featured in Nicholas Kristof’s Heartache in the Hot Zone: The Front Line Against Covid-19. Dr. White has an abiding interest in advancing social medicine through educational initiatives among students and medical residents.

STEFEN R. SHORT
BOARD MEMBER

Stefen R. Short, JD, is the supervising attorney for the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society of the City of New York, a litigation unit that challenges constitutional violations and unlawful conditions in jails and prisons in New York. Stefen litigates on behalf of incarcerated people with disabilities, mental health needs, and unmet educational needs.  Previously, he was a Staff Attorney at Disability Rights New York, New York’s Protection and Advocacy System.

DANIEL SMOKLER
BOARD MEMBER

Rabbi Daniel Smokler, PhD, is the Chief Innovation Officer at OOI. He graduated from Yale University with a BA in the History of Art. Dan went on to found Organizational Solutions, a labor consulting firm that helped reorganize the Writer’s Guild of America. He also completed a PhD in Education and Jewish Studies at NYU. Dan’s abiding interest in social justice has continued to grow and he joined the MJA board of directors as its founding chair.

MARY PRICE
BOARD MEMBER

Mary Price is Senior Counsel at FAMM, where she has served as General Counsel for 25 years. Since joining the organization in 2000, she has been a leading advocate for sentencing reform and second-chance policies, including retroactivity and compassionate release, working with the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Congress, the Bureau of Prisons, and state policymakers. Mary’s research and writing focus on improving compassionate release systems nationwide. She is a founder of the federal Compassionate Release Clearinghouse and currently oversees efforts to expand the model to state systems. She is a member of the American Law Institute and several national criminal justice reform initiatives.

BRIE WILLIAMS
BOARD MEMBER

Dr. Brie Williams is a physician and Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco with training in internal medicine, geriatrics, and palliative care.She directs Amend, which works to improve prison conditions and reduce health inequities, and co-directs the Aging Research in Criminal Justice Health (ARCH) Network. Her research on aging, serious illness, and incarceration has helped shape compassionate release policy and prison reform efforts nationwide. In 2025, Gavin Newsom appointed her co-chair of the San Quentin Transformation Advisory Council.

OUR PARTNERS

MJA is thankful for the support of the following organizations.

Tow Foundation

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