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PROTECTING THE RIGHT
TO HEALTH CARE PROMISED TO 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

Expert Services

We train volunteer clinicians to provide expert witness services in cases involving incarcerated people. This removes the often prohibitive cost barrier to this critical service. MJA is the first national group of medical experts who work to protect the rights of people in jails, prisons, and detention centers.

Advocacy

We advocate for policy changes needed to ensure that incarcerated people receive their right to medical care. We do so in partnership with legal experts and advocacy groups at the local, state, and federal level.

Education

We educate key stakeholders regarding the medical impacts of incarceration to ensure that the medical needs of incarcerated people are met. These groups include attorneys, policy makers, parole boards, correctional staff, incarcerated people, and the general public.

HOW IT WORKS

Step 1

Case
Request

Attorneys identify 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. By sharing these numbers, we aim to illuminate the scale of our mission, the progress we’ve made, and the path that lies ahead in our pursuit of medical justice for all.
418
Case Submissions
305
Medical Volunteers
85%
Success Rate
22
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 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. His  fellowship in global emergency medicine focused on the rights of those in carceral settings. He has consulted for the World Health Organization and serves as vice chair of the Public Health Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

NISHI KUMAR
HEAD 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. 

SCOTT PEARLMAN
BOARD TREASURER

Scott Pearlman, MD, is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice-Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center. He also serves as the Director of Emergency Medicine at Montefiore’s Wakefield Campus. Dr. Pearlman received double board certification in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine.

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.

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.