Samuel Quiles

State: New Jersey

Samuel, Sammy, Quiles is a first generation college graduate who earned his Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Rutgers university, Newark. In his full time position with The Center for Justice Innovation he is a case manager in their Alternative to Incarceration Program where he assists community members avoid jail time and exorbitant fines for low level offenses in the municipality of Newark. He accomplishes this through supporting community events and relief efforts to assist citizens with their needs, providing them resources, and facilitating lifestyle programs. Armed with his lived experience, education and empathy he uses his skill set to serve marginalized populations.

He is an advocate for the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons program, is a member of the Latino Action Network Foundation’s criminal justice reform committee, is a mentee for the Youth Advocate Program, and has worked as a research assistant for the Department of Urban Education’s disabilities studies program. He has guest lectured on the disconnect between theories of punishment and their actual practice upon human bodies at Rutgers University, Swarthmore College, Bloomfield College and Princeton University. He recently moderated a panel titled Education Not Incarceration: Translating Prison Partnerships Across the Diaspora on behalf of Rutgers Institute for the Study of Global and racial Justice. He is a proud member of the Returning Citizens Support Group.

He is a system impacted scholar whose passion for global and racial justice originates from the fact that he has a multitude of identities that have long been marginalized by the dominant group- “I am Puerto Rican, I am poor, I come from an urban dilapidated community, and I am a convicted felon. My existential experiences have allowed me to empathize with the downtrodden and have brought about this fervent commitment to activism in seeking true acceptance, inclusion, justice, equality, peace, progress, and prosperity for all system impacted persons.“ A living example of the possibilities for the formerly incarcerated and marginalized groups when equipped with adequate educational resources and surrounded by a community of support. His mission is to replicate these opportunities for all and, more importantly, make it the norm rather than the exception.