FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
The Law and Justice Journalism Project (LJJP) fellowship program provides journalists at the beginning of their career with regular advising on story development, investigating cases, finding sources, and navigating a complex topic on often tight reporting schedules.
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LJJP pairs early and mid-stage journalists with experienced criminal justice system reporters. This year, we ask that each reporter bring at least one project idea to the fellowship that they will produce with the assistance of their mentor. LJJP will also help reporters find relevant experts and research to support their work.
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Please read the 2024 Fellowship FAQs for more information.
2024-2025 Fellows
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GRETHEL AGUILA
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KATE MCQUEEN
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KARA BERG
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JUAN MORENO HAINES
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STEVE BROOKS
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MICHELLE PITCHER
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JILLIAN FORSTADT
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JESSE VASQUEZ
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SERENA LIN
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ALEX BRIZEE
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TYLER MCBRIEN
ANGIE ORELLANA HERNANDEZ
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KARA BERG
Detroit News
Connect at @KaraBerg95
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Kara Berg is a reporter for the Detroit News, where she primarily covers courts, criminal justice and child welfare issues. She started her career in Belleville, Illinois, then returned to her home state of Michigan and spent four years in Lansing covering police, courts and Title IX issues, and has been in Detroit for the past two years. She graduated from Ball State University with a journalism and telecommunications degree.
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STEVE BROOKS
San Quentin News
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Steve Brooks has won multiple journalism awards. He is the former editor of San Quentin News and is currently a California Local News Fellow at Bay City News Foundation.
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JILLIAN FORSTADT
90.5 WESA
Connect at @JillianForstadt
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Jillian Forstadt is the education reporter at 90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR News station. Her work focuses on the intersection of education, equity and social justice, shedding light on Pennsylvania's school systems. Jillian’s award-winning reporting includes investigations into suburban book ban debates, student discipline andcv misused public health funds in communities facing air pollution. Before moving to Pittsburgh, she covered affordable housing, homelessness and rural health care at WSKG Public Radio in Binghamton, New York. Her reporting regularly appears across Pennsylvania’s network of public radio stations and NPR’s flagship national shows.
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SERENA LIN
Mother Jones
Serena Lin is a New York-based Ben Bagdikian fellow at Mother Jones, where she writes about criminal justice and politics. She previously worked at local newspapers in Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, where she also covered homelessness and mental health. She grew up outside of Philadelphia and studied English literature at Yale.
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TYLER MCBRIEN
Lawfare
Connect at @TylerMcBrien
Tyler McBrien is the managing editor of Lawfare. He has written for the Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Mother Jones, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, and has appeared on MSNBC, BBC, ABC (Australia), and CBC Radio. Prior to journalism, he worked as an editor with the Council on Foreign Relations, a Princeton in Africa Fellow in South Africa, and a freelancer for organizations such as the Brennan Center for Justice, Solutions Journalism Network, and Tactical Tech. Originally from Marietta, GA, he currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
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KATE MCQUEEN
Pollen Initiative
Connect at @KateJoyMcQueen
Kate McQueen is a writer and educator specializing in narrative journalism. She serves as editorial director for Pollen Initiative (PI), a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating media centers inside prisons. Kate’s writing on criminal justice issues and prison journalism has appeared or is forthcoming in The Atavist, Alta Journal, Next City, JSTOR Daily, Journalism History, and Literary Journalism Studies. As editorial director at PI, Kate is currently developing stories with the incarcerated newspaper staff of CCWF Paper Trail, a new publication produced at the Central California Women’s Facility, Chowchilla, California.
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JUAN MORENO HAINES
Solitary Watch
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Juan Moreno Haines is an acclaimed journalist and influential figure in prison reform. His understanding of the criminal legal system is shaped by over 35 years in California's prison system. Haines's commitment to revealing the often-overlooked realities of incarceration has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists' Silver Heart, accolades from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for COVID-19 reporting as well as an Evident Change award by Media for a Just Society. As Editor-in-Chief of Solitary Watch, he has demonstrated an ability to elevate crucial issues regarding unnecessarily harsh prison conditions. He produced several podcasts with the Uncuffed radio journalism project, supported by KALW. Haines is cofounder of Humans of San Quentin, a website geared at empowering incarcerated voices.
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MICHELLE PITCHER
Texas Observer
Connect at @MichellePitcher
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Michelle Pitcher is a staff writer at the Texas Observer covering criminal justice, housing, and education. She received her master’s in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley and was part of the team at The Marshall Project that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Her reporting has been featured on NPR, FiveThirtyEight, The Dallas Morning News, and more. Michelle was born and raised in Dallas and is now based in Austin.
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JESSE VASQUEZ
Pollen Initiative
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Jesse Vasquez is the executive director of Pollen Initiative, a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating media centers inside prisons. Sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile, Jesse worked as editor-in-chief of the prisoner-run San Quentin News from 2017 until his sentence was commuted in 2019. Since then, he has served as the strategic advisor for San Quentin News, ForwardThis Productions and Change Talk podcast. Jesse also sits on the California governor’s advisory council to transform San Quentin into an innovative rehabilitation center.
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ALEX BRIZEE
Idaho Statesman
Connect at @Alex_Brizee
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Alex Brizee covers the criminal justice system for the Idaho Statesman. Her work has included coverage of the Boise Police Department following the impromptu resignation of its police chief, several high-profile criminal cases including Lori and Chad Daybell, and an investigation into allegations of medical delays at the Idaho Department of Correction which left one Idaho man's hand deformed. A Miami native and a University of Idaho graduate, she has lived all over the United States. In her free time, she loves reading and hanging out with her husky-German shepherd mix Stanley.
ANGIE ORELLANA HERNANDEZ
Los Angeles Times
Connect at @AngOrellanaH
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Phoebe Petrovic (she/they) is an investigative reporter at Wisconsin Watch, a nonpartisan and nonprofit outlet covering government integrity and quality of life issues.
As a Report for America corps member from 2019-2022, Petrovic reported, produced, and hosted "Open and Shut," a podcast series from Wisconsin Watch and Wisconsin Public Radio examining the power of prosecutors. Petrovic has previously worked at WPR as a Lee Ester News Fellow, “Reveal” from the Center for Investigative Reporting as an editorial intern, and NPR's "Here & Now" as a temporary producer. Her work has aired nationally on all of NPR's flagship news magazines. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Yale University.
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GRETHEL AGUILA
Miami Herald
Connect at @GrethelAguila
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Grethel Aguila is a reporter at the Miami Herald, where she covers courts and the criminal justice system. She has reported on several high-profile trials, followed changes to the death penalty in Florida and investigated allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Grethel was recently honored by SPJ Florida for her court reporting, which included a project about the weaponization of rap lyrics in the courts amid the 50th anniversary of hip-hop — and prosecutors in YNW Melly's double murder case announcing that they intend to use dozens of the rapper’s songs in his retrial.
MENTORS
KERI BLAKINGER
J. BRIAN CHARLES
MENSAH DEAN
SHAILA DEWAN
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JULEYKA LANTIGUA-WILLIAMS
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JOSH VAUGHN
KERI BLAKINGER
Staff Writer, The Marshall Project
Connect at @keribla
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Keri Blakinger is a Texas-based investigative reporter for The Marshall Project, where her work focuses on prisons and jails. She previously covered criminal justice for the Houston Chronicle, and her work has appeared in the Washington Post Magazine, VICE, the New York Daily News and The New York Times. She is the organization's first formerly incarcerated reporter. Her memoir, "Corrections in Ink," published in June 2022.
J. BRIAN CHARLES
Deputy Editor, Baltimore Beat
Connect at @JBrianCharles
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J. Brian Charles is Deputy Editor of Baltimore Beat, a black-led nonprofit print and digital news outlet focusing on stories about Baltimore's Black community. Previously, he was a staffer at The Trace, The Hill, Chalkbeat, Governing, and Pasadena Star-News.
His work has appeared in Slate, Vox, Wired, Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore City Paper, and many other publications. Brian’s recent reporting has been about violence interrupters in Baltimore City for The Guardian, police reform in Newark, New Jersey, for The Trace, and the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle for Playboy.
MENSAH DEAN
Justice & Injustice Staff Writer, Philadelphia Inquirer
Connect at @MensahDean
Mensah M. Dean is a staff writer on the Justice & Injustice team at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he focuses on gun violence, corruption and wrongdoing in the public and private sectors. This September will mark his 25th anniversary with the company.
During the first decade of his career in Philadelphia Dean covered the city's financially and academically-challenged school district for the Philadelphia Daily News, the Inquirer's sister publication. During these years, Dean was a regular panelist on, "Reporter's Roundtable," a program on the school district's public television station. In 1999, he covered the federal government's sweeping Welfare Reform Act's impact on Philadelphia. Twice, in 2000 and 2015, Dean covered the inner workings of Philadelphia's government as a City Hall reporter. From 2009 through 2014, he reported exclusively on criminal justice as the Daily News' courthouse reporter. In January 2016, Dean's work began appearing in the Inquirer and Daily News after the staffs merged.
A native of Washington, D.C., Dean began his career at the Washington Times, where he was a staff writer from 1993 to 1997. His freelance work has appeared in People, Vibe and the World & I magazines. In 1999, Dean spent a month at Duke University as a fellow at the De Witt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism. In 2022, Dean and four colleagues were Pulitzer Prize finalists for explanatory reporting for their year-long chronicling of the impact of gun violence on Philadelphia.Among his other honors was being named the 2019 print journalist of the year by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, and receiving the 2017 Vernon Jarrett Medal for Journalistic Excellence and $10,000 prize from Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communication.
In 1993 Dean earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism degree from Bowie State University, where he served as editor of the student newspaper for two years. As a student, he worked as a summer intern at the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Times.
SHAILA DEWAN
National Criminal Justice Editor, The New York Times
Connect at @shailadewan
Shaila Dewan is the National Criminal Justice Editor for the New York Times. Shaila is from Houston, where she attended Rice University and began her career at the Houston Press, an investigative weekly.
She joined the Times in 2000 and has covered a variety of beats including the NYPD, the South and the economy, always with a special affinity for criminal justice issues. In the South, she wrote about all-white juries and prosecutors who refused to accept evidence of innocence, as well as civil rights-era cold cases and efforts to restore voting rights to those convicted of crimes. As a BizDay reporter, she wrote in depth about the case of Shanesha Taylor, charged with child abuse for leaving her children in a car while interviewing for a job. After Ferguson, she wrote a series of articles focusing on the vastly damaging effects of even low-level involvement with the criminal justice system, particularly for poor people, and an investigative project on a pay-to-play scheme known as pretrial diversion.
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JULEYKA LANTIGUA-WILLIAMS
Journalist and Entrepreneur
Connect at @juleykalantigua
Juleyka Lantigua is the Founder and CEO of LWC Studios, an award-winning digital media studio whose original work reaches rising audiences with programming that has a social-justice vein. She created and executive produces 70 Million, the first open-source solutions journalism podcast chronicling how locals are tackling jail reform around the country. In 2020, LWC Studios received a Peabody Award nomination, earned silver in the audio documentary category at the New York International Radio Festival, and won “The Director’s Prize,” their first Third Coast award, also known as “The Oscars of Audio.” In 2021, “Driving the Green Book,” which she edited and the company produced for Macmillan Podcasts, earned the inaugural Ambie for Best History Podcast. A Fulbright Scholar, Tory Burch Fellow, and Latino Business Action Network alumna (Stanford University), Juleyka holds a BA from Skidmore College, a Master’s in Journalism from Boston University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She serves on the board of governors of The Podcast Academy, the boards of directors of Latino Media Network and TechBridge Girls.
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JOSHUA VAUGHN
Journalist
Connect at @JoshuaPVaughn
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Joshua Vaughn is an investigative/enterprise reporter with PennLive and adjunct lecturer at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University. He covers a broad array of criminal justice issues, but has focused recently on conditions and abuse in Dauphin County Prison. Joshua was a 2023 Pulitzer Center grantee in which he helped develop the first-ever database of deaths in jails in Pennsylvania. He was also a 2016 John Jay/Harry F. Guggenheim criminal justice reporting fellow and received a 2016 president’s award for excellence in news reporting recipient from Lee Enterprises.
