Brian Nam-Sonenstein is an independent journalist and editor living in Southern Maine. He is a Senior Editor and Researcher at the Prison Policy Initiative.
He is the author of several publications, including a report on how jails and prisons force incarcerated people and their families to subsidize mass incarceration, and briefings on the suppression of prison journalism, the importance of housing in disrupting cycles of incarceration, and the misrepresentation of “failure to appear” as a public safety issue.
Brian was a co-founder of Shadowproof and co-host of the Beyond Prisons podcast. He was also a local criminal justice columnist for Maine’s Portland Phoenix and an associate publisher for the independent news and activism website Firedoglake. His work has been published in outlets such as Truthout, Marijuana Moment, Solitary Watch, Prison Legal News, and SF Bay View.