Glenn Martin

Glenn E. Martin is a national leader and criminal justice reform advocate who who spent six years in New York State prisons.

Prior to founding JLUSA, Mr. Martin served for several years as Vice President of The Fortune Society and Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center. He is Co-Founder of the Education from the Inside Out Coalition, an America’s Leaders of Change National Urban Fellow, and a member of the governing boards of the College and Community Fellowship, Prisoners’ Legal Services, New York Foundation, California Partnership for Safe Communities and the Reset Foundation. He also serves on the advisory board of the National Network for Safe Communities. Glenn was named on The 2015 Root 100 list of most influential African Americans.

In 2015, Mr. Martin wrote an open letter to President Obama, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal, after a visit as an invited guest to the White House when he was separated from his colleagues and given a special escort due to his criminal conviction. Glenn was later invited back to speak on a panel at the White House, getting the chance to meet with President Obama at an event focused on criminal justice reform. In 2016, Glenn was appointed to the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform; at the invitation of New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman to look at the possibility of closing Rikers Island.

Glenn regularly contributes his expertise to national news outlets such as MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera and CSPAN.