Meet Our Staff

Executive Director

Paul Briley

Paul Briley is the Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. Paul focuses on fines & fees among other legal monetary sanctions that burden formerly incarcerated individuals and disproportionately impact low-income people and communities of color. He grew up in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco, a community that has seen its fair share of social problems over the years. 

As a child Paul was displaced by the foster care system and subsequently fell into a deep cycle of recidivism. The juvenile dependency court deployed him to a military boarding school for troubled youth. This instilled a great deal of consciousness and respect for different people and different places, but it also sparked an immense amount of curiosity and concern within. The majority of individuals confined were impacted by public policy. 

After aging out of foster care Paul became politicized through Project Rebound and learned how to use his carceral experience as a catalyst for change in social justice. He attended San Francisco State University and became an advocate for system impacted students on campus. He transferred to the University of California, Berkeley and became a student ambassador for the Berkeley Underground Scholars, a student-led organization of formerly incarcerated students on campus working to expand the prison to school pipeline. During undergrad, Paul noticed significant differences that distinguish one community from another and how social programs, public policy laws, and monetary allocations create these community distinctions. He explored how multiple areas of study intersect with one another and majored in interdisciplinary studies with a specific goal in mind, ​utilize the inside knowledge of institutions and systems currently in place to help people from marginalized groups. 

All of Us or None presented an opportunity in 2019 to become a Ronald Elder Freeman Policy Fellow. He was trained to become a community organizer and policy advocate for formerly incarcerated and convicted people as well as their families. During his fellowship, Paul helped draft the language for ACA 6 which restored the right to vote to 50,000 people on parole in California. He also helped lead the People over Profits campaign in San Francisco, an ordinance change that required the City and its vendors to stop generating revenue from incarcerated people and their loved ones. San Francisco became the first city in the nation to make jail phone calls free and end the markup of commissary items in the county Jail. The victory in San Francisco permeated throughout California influencing larger legislation cosponsored by LSPC making phone calls free inside of all CA state prisons. 

The People over Profits ordinance was an important change but it didn’t help people who still lacked the funds to purchase from the commissary. To go a step further, Paul created the Commissary Allowance Program in San Francisco, which allows incarcerated people who lack financial support to receive a small monthly allowance to pay for basic necessities. This is the first program of its kind in the country.

Paul extends his efforts to those who have fallen victim to social forces and will work to reconstruct the policies that have allowed this to happen. Unbound by the institutions of previous order, he is creating an alternative discourse independently of the dominant social group. Paul has an insatiable appetite for resilient truth, obtaining knowledge that produces solutions, and creating ways to sustain institutional change. 

Managing Director

Dr. Tanisha Cannon

[Tah knee sh A] She/Her

Dr. Tanisha Cannon is a dedicated and compassionate advocate for social justice, committed to making a lasting impact on the lives of prisoners and their children. As the Managing Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the fields of education, sociology, criminal justice, and public administration.

Dr. Cannon earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership with a focus on social justice from California State East Bay in May 2023. Prior to that, she pursued her undergraduate studies in sociology and completed a Master’s in Public Administration. Her academic background has provided her with a comprehensive understanding of the complex issues surrounding underserved communities and the criminal justice system.

Dr. Cannon’s passion for creating positive change stems from her personal experiences. Having witnessed firsthand the effects of the criminal justice system on her own family, with her mother, brothers, and grandfather all experiencing incarceration, she is deeply committed to challenging the status quo. As a juvenile, she also faced direct impacts from the system, giving her a unique perspective and a sense of urgency to work towards systemic reform.

Throughout her career, Dr. Cannon has actively engaged with underserved communities. She dedicated her time and expertise at the Oakland Housing Authority, where she worked tirelessly to address the needs of marginalized populations. Additionally, her role as a Cultural Strategist with the City of Oakland allowed her to collaborate with government officials and community leaders to develop initiatives promoting equity and inclusion.

She believes in the power of civic engagement and community organizing to drive meaningful change. Her dedication to empowering individuals and creating systemic solutions sets her apart as a leader in her field.

Dr. Cannon firmly believes that her works at LSPC should be organized around principles of caring, compassion, love, and humanity. Drawing inspiration from the concept of Ubuntu—a Zulu South African philosophy of humanism—she recognizes that while individuals have diverse lived experiences, their shared humanity is the foundation for affirming and validating their voices. She strives to prioritize the human element in her work, placing greater emphasis on the stories, experiences, and perspectives of individuals rather than reducing them to mere numbers and charts.

By incorporating these principles into her role as Managing Director, Dr. Cannon ensures that her work is guided by empathy, respect, and a commitment to amplifying marginalized voices. She seeks to create a space that recognizes and values the inherent dignity and worth of every individual, fostering an environment that promotes equity, justice, and positive change.

Dr. Cannon will continue to champion the cause of justice and support the families impacted by incarceration. Her tireless efforts, combined with her extensive knowledge and personal experiences, make her a compassionate and effective advocate for systems change.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Community Engagement, Organizational Structure, Intimate Inquiry (Qualitative Data), and Strategic Planning 

Director of Development & Communications

Gillian Henry

(She/Her)

Gillian, pronounced like gills on a fish, is a small person with a big personality. As the new Director of Development & Communications, she brings to LSPC a strategy-oriented mindset and a diverse portfolio, from securing multi-million dollar government grants for an education nonprofit to grassroots fundraising and event planning at an economic justice organization in the East Bay. She also helps run her dad’s movement business and is on the board of Community Women’s Orchestra in Oakland. 
A mixed-race, queer, first-generation immigrant and college graduate, she is passionate about gender equity, work-life balance, disability rights, the Asian American experience, and all things carbs. Gillian loves to read and write in both her personal and professional lives, and relishes a beautifully crafted sentence. Some of her many pursuits include dancing, cooking, gardening, doing Pilates, organizing by color, sewing, fostering cats, and reading memoirs.

Interim Legal Director

Eliza Patten

Eliza is a dedicated advocate and strategist who brings over 20 years of experience working in partnership with families impacted by the criminal legal system’s close cousin, the family regulation and policing system. As a civil legal aid lawyer, youth advocate, family defense attorney, social justice founder and executive director, Eliza has fought to keep families together and prevent the unnecessary and prolonged stay of children in foster care.  Eliza is focused on helping organizations with strategic planning to support movement work and promote long term social change.

A graduate of New York University’s Family Defense Clinic, Skadden Fellow, and Child Welfare Law Specialist, Eliza started her career representing parents in a community legal aid office in Wilmington, Delaware.  Later, Eliza represented children and youth at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco.  Most recently, Eliza was Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of East Bay Family Defenders, an Alameda County-based interdisciplinary family defense organization that merged with LSPC in the fall of 2023.

Staff Attorney

Eric Sapp

Eric C. Sapp spent his youth in New Jersey. He received a Bachelor of Arts with Highest Honors from the University of Virginia as well as a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where he focused on constitutional law, jurisprudence, and international human rights, and where he also worked on asylum in the immigration law clinic. In the private practice of law, he represented defendants in protest-related civil and criminal misdemeanor cases, among other areas of law. He has done extensive graduate studies (ABD) at Stanford University’s Program in Modern Thought and Literature, where his dissertation research focused on the juridical structure of the so-called War on Terror during the Bush II and Obama eras, including regarding issues of arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial killing, and expansive criminalization based on terrorism-related designations. Additionally, he has published articles on the comparative history of philosophy. 
As an activist, he has been especially involved in the (overlapping) anti-imperialist and peace movements. Eric believes that all prisoners are political prisoners.

Staff Attorney

Kellie Walters

(She/Her)

My name is Kellie and I am from Chicago. I graduated from DePaul University in 2001 and then spent two years working as a domestic violence counselor in an emergency shelter. I began my legal education at The John Marshall Law School in January 2003. During that time, I was an intern at The Fair Housing Legal Clinic for four semesters and spent several semesters employed as a legal research assistant. 

In 2006, I obtained my Juris Doctor degree and was admitted to the Illinois Bar. Later that year, I enrolled in Northwestern Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, seeking an LL.M. in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. During that time, I wrote my LL.M. thesis on the oil drilling in southeast Nigeria, its effect on the Ogoni tribe, and the ongoing litigation. During that time, I also taught seminars at the Portland Community College about the relationship between Environmental Law and Human Rights. 

Upon returning to Chicago, I worked with the Civil Rights Center litigating cases involving police misconduct until they closed their doors in 2009. After which, I started in private practice, focusing on criminal defense and civil rights cases. From 2015 through 2020, I was a supervising attorney for the housing section at UIC – The John Marshall Law School Domestic Violence and Family Law Clinic. In 2021, I began working as a Staff Attorney with LSPC and I’m really excited to work on the policy side of civil rights matters.

Development Manager

Bruno de Sousa

Bruno de Sousa is the Development Manager at Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. A purpose-driven leader, Bruno brings over four years of nonprofit development experience across a range of human services organizations. His philanthropic journey began during his undergraduate years at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he held leadership roles in both a fraternity and a dance marathon organization supporting local children’s hospitals.

Bruno’s expertise lies in a strategic approach to donor stewardship, data analytics, and nonprofit financial strategy—skills he continues to hone as he pursues an MBA in Business Analytics at the University of San Francisco. He is passionate about using data and technology to drive equity-focused impact and long-term social change.

A first-generation immigrant from Brazil, Bruno’s leadership is rooted in resilience, service, and a deep commitment to creating pathways for underrepresented communities. Outside of work, Bruno finds joy in dancing, music, and movies. During the week, he unwinds with solo walks and home-cooked meals; on weekends, he embraces the “work hard, play hard” mantra by hosting dinner parties, attending concerts, and gathering with friends. At his core, Bruno is guided by strong values around family, community, care, and connection.

Communications Manager

TaSin Sabir

[Tass-Seen] [Saw-beer]

TaSin Sabir is an artist driven by purpose, combining her photography and graphic design skills to support causes she is passionate about. In 2004, she graduated from California College of Arts and Crafts with a BFA in Fine Arts Photography. Born and raised in Oakland, California, TaSin’s artwork has been exhibited throughout the Bay Area and across the nation. A natural-born journalist, she has regularly contributed to the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper and YO! Youth Outlook.

TaSin is deeply community-focused and once opened a gathering space called The OakPod. During its operation, it served as a vibrant hub for local art and entertainment. After its closure, she shifted her focus to freelance work, partnering with businesses and nonprofits to elevate their brands and public messages.

In 2016, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) contracted TaSin to design their annual report. Since then, she has built an ongoing relationship with LSPC, serving as their go-to designer for projects such as website development and campaign marketing materials. In 2022, she joined LSPC full-time as Communications Manager and Editor-in-Chief of the All of Us or None Newspaper. TaSin is excited to use her skills sets at an organization she greatly respects.

Policy Analyst

Jeronimo Cuauhtemoc Aguilar

(He/Him)

Jeronimo Cuauhtemoc Aguilar is a Chicano Indigenous of Purepecha descent and Policy Analyst for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. After completing the 2021 Elder Freeman Policy Fellowship, Jeronimo was brought on to the LSPC staff as the organization’s Policy Coordinator. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to Policy Analyst midway through 2022 and has not looked back since. 

Jeronimo’s combination of lived experience, system impact via incarceration of many family members, and a propensity for critical thinking and analysis has been a strong addition to Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. His background in radical organizing as a former Brown Beret, student activist, and community organizer has set him up uniquely to always stay rooted in the community no matter how much time he has to spend with capitol staff, elected officials, and other stakeholders. 

Jeronimo graduated from CSU Sacramento with a Bachelor’s Degree in Ethnic Studies with a concentration in Chicano Studies and has organized on many levels including city government, county Board of Supervisors, Federal (immigration advocacy), and of course his current focus on CA statewide legislation. 

Jeronimo’s leadership has included helping found the Abolish Bondage collectively campaign (ABC) which has led to LSPC’s cosponsorship of ACA 8 The End Slavery in CA Act, helping train and launch similar campaigns in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Missouri through the ABC National apparatus. 

In addition to leading the policy efforts on ACA 8: The End Slavery in CA Act, he also has been LSPC’s policy lead for the Living Wage for All campaign in CA via AB 1516 a bill aimed at raising the minimum wage of all workers including incarcerated workers, The Fair Chance Coalition looking to pass legislation that limits discrimination in the employment and hiring process, and Fair Chance Housing at the statewide level; to name a few recent policy endeavors. 

Jeronimo’s been quoted and interviewed by the Real News Network, LA Times, Newsbreak, KQED, and writes the monthly “Policy Update ” section included in the AOUON Newspaper which goes into all California prisons. He also authors the policy updates for the monthly E-news/newsletter which is available to our members and the public. 

Sr. Financial/Admin Operations

Mei Lia Storelee

My name is Mei Lia. I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I am formerly incarcerated and, before working at LSPC I worked at Insight Gardening Program. As a woman whose family and children were deeply affected by my being in and out of incarceration, I am passionate about being a part of a movement that directly helps people who are or were incarcerated. 

I know the struggles of the revolving door of the judicial system and strongly believe that re-placing jails and prisons with programs to help people regardless of their past will help our society and next generation to have a life without being constantly shadowed by their past.

AOUON Outreach Organizer

John Cannon

John is an organizer and policy advocate working to change the injustices that he and his family have experienced in the criminal justice system. As a young person who was charged as an adult at the age of 16, John has experienced the brutality of the system first hand. After being incarcerated for nine years, he is now committed to working with other formerly incarcerated leaders and policymakers to ending mass incarceration and creating more support and resources for people coming home from prison.

In his role as a Policy Fellow at LSPC, John is responsible for tracking bills, drafting policy memorandums, working with statewide coalitions on legislative efforts, and developing impactful campaigns. He is also an organizer with All of Us or None where he recruits new members and engages them in the chapter’s local work. John was raised in and around the Bay Area and comes from a large and loving family of 7 sisters and 4 brothers who have all been impacted by incarceration.

Re-Entry Coordinator

Alissa Moore

Alissa has been directly impacted since her youth, having served over 23 years in state prison on a 15 to life sentence handed down as a juvenile. She came to this work from the Earth Island Institute where she interned for Greenlife: her primary focus was working with formerly incarcerated peoples navigating the return to a world that had changed significantly in our absence with an emphasis on environmental impact.

She’s honored to have been selected as a 2022 Elder Freeman Policy Fellow because she feels LSPC is more in alignment with her passion for working with and on behalf of currently incarcerated folks. 

Regional Advocacy and Organizing Associate

Lawrence Cox

(He/Him)

Lawrence Cox was born in Oakland, CA and at an early age was not privileged to socio-economic permanency. This was simply “not available to me” according to Lawrence.

Like many youth growing up in the Bay Area, he was exposed to obscenities, drugs, addictions, and violence. Before the age of 7 he became a ward of Alameda County touring California’s anemic foster care system. However this did not deter him and as a teenager he began advocating for policy reforms for youth in the system through community organizing. 

Nearing emancipation Lawrence describes that things began to spiral, “This time I had slipped at my own doing, becoming a product of my environment and a replica of my troubled parents. I lost focus of my goals and I became a victim to social, economic, and psychological degradation.” 

This time Lawrence would become a ward of the State of California for almost seventeen years.  This adversity, although bleak and monstrous, changed his life. This experience that he had to endure challenged him and stripped him down and exposed him to the darkness and hopelessness only incarceration does. Lawrence persevered despite everything, becoming the man he is today. 

Lawrence joins Legal Services for Prisoners with Children committed to creating change for those affected by the prison system. After almost 17 years of triumphs, struggles, introspection, growth, and education, Lawrence’s prominent focus is finding ways to reverse systematic disenfranchisement and the infrastructures that perpetuate these inequalities.

Family Defense Attorney

Meredith Wallis

Meredith is a family defense attorney. Before joining Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, she worked for five years at East Bay Family Defenders primarily defending parents whose children had been removed by the Department of Children and Family Services. Prior to this job, she was an academic, teaching law and literature; her Ph.D. is in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. She is committed to family defense because she believes the actual harm caused by the systematic dismantling of families by incarceration and child removal–particularly poor, Black, and indigenous families—is a far greater and longer-lasting threat to vulnerable children than anything those systems claim to be put in place to remedy.

Family Defense Social Worker

Arielle Reisman

Arielle is a licensed clinical social worker who is deeply committed to family defense. Before joining Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, she worked for five years at East Bay Family Defenders as a defense social worker for parents whose children had been removed by the Department of Children and Family Services in Alameda County. She received her master’s degree in social work from New York University and spent six years working with individuals and families directly impacted by the criminal legal system and mass incarceration. Her commitment to family defense stems from her experience watching the day-to-day absurdity of the Family Regulation System’s claim to help families recover from the very decimation it directly causes through child removals and, historically, through the systematic destruction of poor Black and indigenous families.

Family Unity Policy Analyst

Ari Craig Vazquez

(They/Them)

Ari Vazquez is the Family Unity Policy Analyst at LSPC. They are motivated by their families’ experiences of the family policing system and the prison industrial complex. Before coming to LSPC, they were a fellow on the Gender Sexuality and Reproductive Justice team at ACLU of Northern California where they expanded the teams powerbuilding with directly impacted communities and helped launch their family policing work, including the establishment and coordination of the coalition Reimagine Child Safety Bay Area and Beyond.

They have a masters in social work, from Portland State University where they focused on methods of abolitionist social work. They utilize their degree to advance the abolitionist movement, expand change making power for marginalized individuals, and increase equity of all systems, especially in the creation and implementation of social policy. They are a white-passing Puerto Rican from rural Missouri that has made California’s Bay Area their home. They pride themselves in their ability to facilitate community with people from all walks of life and adore the transformative power community holds. They have held jobs in food service, direct support of disabled communities, youth development, community engagement, and policy advocacy, all providing skills they use on a daily basis.

Housing Advocate

Taqwaa Bonner

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
Ban the Box, Reentry, Community Organizing, Policy Advocacy.

Taqwaa Bonner, a proud husband and family man, joined All Of Us Or None as a Housing Advocate in August, 2018. During his 30 years of incarceration, Lee achieved a General Education Development (G.E.D.) and an Associate In Arts Degree in Social Science, became certified in three Electrical trades, a 5-year Electrical Apprenticeship training program, and two in painting programs. Taqwaa also became a certified Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselor.On September 10, 2018, Taqwaa officially started an All Of Us Or None East Oakland Youth Chapter in a quest to help rebuild the community which he damaged 32 years ago.

All of Us or None Organizer

Robert Bowden

Meet Robert Floyd Bowden, a San Francisco native who found himself navigating life’s challenges between the vibrant west coast and the impactful civil rights movement in Greensboro, North Carolina. Shaped by the rebellious spirit against an unjust justice system in his community, Robert’s journey took an unexpected turn at the age of twelve when he experienced juvenile hall for the first time.

Over the next twenty-five years, sixteen of which were spent in various forms of incarceration, Robert became what many would label as institutionalized. However, a turning point came when he realized that the fight for equality and true justice needed to extend beyond the walls of correctional institutions. Determined to make a difference, he decided to bring about change from within, aspiring to make freedom a constant in society.

In 1997, upon his release, Robert embarked on a transformative journey. Passionate about assisting both current and former incarcerated individuals in their transition, he founded Homeboyhotline.org, a database of reentry resources—a beacon on the road to redemption. For two decades, Robert has been actively involved in visiting group homes, work release programs, juvenile halls, jails, and prisons.

In 2024, Robert participated in the Ronald “Elder” Freeman policy fellowship program, a remarkable opportunity provided by Legal Services with Children/All of Us or None. This program equipped him with the essential tools to contribute to grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and administrative advocacy, so much so, that at the end of the fellowship Robert was offered a position as an All of Us or None Organizer.

Beyond his dedication to justice reform, Robert is a devoted single dad who cherishes spending quality time with his daughter and proudly declares his love for the 49ers.

Building Maintenance

Earnest Bright

Office Manager

Sarah Jane Cardenas