Our Team
We are a small team of individuals determined to ensure the protection of the civil rights of those incarcerated.
PLS is based in downtown Boston and serves the entirety of Massachusetts. We work to provide advocacy for individuals to ensure that their legally guaranteed rights are not violated by the state.
elizabeth matos
Executive Director
Elizabeth Matos is the Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts and was a staff attorney with the organization for over seven years. Elizabeth has been involved in litigation about solitary confinement practices regarding prisoners with mental illness, discrimination against deaf and hard of hearing prisoners, draconian classification practices, guard on prisoner assaults, and lowering exorbitant and monopolistic prison phone rates. She works closely with coalitions and alongside those most impacted, and advocates with the state legislature on the organization’s legislative priorities, including ending the predatory charging for prison phone calls, expanding access to visitation and voting rights, ending solitary confinement, establishing a prison building moratorium, and providing meaningful access to mental health services, among others. Prior to practicing prisoners’ rights law at PLS Elizabeth practiced housing, education, disability, and immigration law at South Coastal Counties Legal Services. Preceding her legal career, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Mozambique and served as the Immigrant Rights Coordinator for the MIRA (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy) Coalition.
james pingeon
Litigation Director
James Pingeon has been the Litigation Director at PLS since 2001. Previously, he was a senior attorney at the Center for Public Representation and an associate at a large Boston firm. He has been representing those incarcerated for more than 30 years, focusing on systemic reform cases, including challenges to overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, solitary confinement of individuals with mental illness; incarceration of individuals civilly committed for substance use disorders, discrimination against deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, excessive telephone fees, and many others.
Marisol Carrillo
Executive and Legal Support Assistant
Sarah Blair
Pro Bono Counsel
Aryanna Cooke
Paralegal, Race Equity in Corrections Initiative
Onesha Dixon
Paralegal
Kelsea Goodrow
Project Coordinator for Project RIZE
Michael Horrell
Senior Staff Attorney and Acting Healthcare & Disability Project Director
Mac Hudson
Community Liaison Coordinator, Racial Equity in Corrections Initiative
Kristyn J.E. Huey
Senior Staff Attorney and Brutality Project Director
Alphonse Kamanzi
Paralegal
Ada Lin
Bart J. Gordon Legal Fellow and Staff Attorney
Valerie Linhardt
Development Director
Danielle Magalhaes
Receptionist/Legal Assistant
Edna Medina
Legal Assistant and Notary
David Milton
Senior Staff Attorney
Sarah Nawab
Women’s Incarceration Conditions and Reentry Project lead and Staff Attorney
Mario Paredes
Immigrant Detention Conditions Project lead and Staff Attorney
Lauren Petit
Senior Staff Attorney and Medical Parole Project Director
Kate Piper
Senior Paralegal
Maheeb Rabbani
Paralegal
Saphire Ruiz
Brutality Project Paralegal
Linda Rydzewski
Office Manager and Admin Supervisor
Becky Schapiro
Staff Attorney and Healthcare & Disability Project Director
Aaron Steinberg
Communications and Development Coordinator
Bonnie Tenneriello
Senior Staff Attorney and Solitary Confinement Project Director
Al Troisi
Senior Paralegal and Intake Advocacy Director
Jesse White
Policy Director
LaToya Whiteside
Racial Equity In Corrections Initiative Director, Senior Staff Attorney, and MLAC Racial Justice Fellow
board of directors
Patricia Garin
President
Robert Sable
Treasurer
José Bou
Douglas Brooks
Steven Brown
Celestino Colon
Elizabeth A. Davis
Tara Dunn
Tony Gaskins
Joan Johnston
Monik Jimenez
Alexandra Lin
Ellen Lubell
Mala Rafik
James Rollins
Joel Thompson
Zeno Williams
* deceased
Want to get involved?
Check our page below to see if we have current openings for employment or internships!
PRISONERS’ LEGAL SERVICES
50 Federal St., 4th Floor, Boston MA 02110