Laura Markle Downton, M.Div. - Director of Faith and Community Engagement - Laura Markle Downton is a leading strategist and organizer in the field of criminal legal reform. Laura joined the staff of NRCAT in 2013 and works to resource and organize faith leadership involved in NRCAT’s state and federal campaigns to end torture at the local and national level. She has broad experience mobilizing faith communities to advance criminal legal system change and racial justice through building strategic partnerships and coordinating interfaith organizing campaigns. Laura currently serves on the Joint Action and Advocacy for Justice and Peace Convening Table of the National Council of Churches, USA and is a NRCAT representative to the Interfaith Criminal Justice Coalition in Washington, D.C., both of which work to promote racial justice, human rights and policy alternatives to mass incarceration. Before joining the staff of NRCAT, she served as National Organizer for the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church and on the Board of Directors for Grassroots Leadership. She holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary with specialization in Women's Studies and is a Midwest Academy trained organizer. Laura holds certification from the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) Program of Eastern Mennonite University and is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC).
Rev. Tara "T.C." Morrow - Director of Finance & Operations - Rev. T.C. Morrow, an Ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church, serves NRCAT with distinction having been among the founding members of the NRCAT staff. From 2004 to 2009, T.C. served at the Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy, working to educate and organize religious communities on public policy issues. Since joining NRCAT full-time in 2009, in addition to financial and organizational operations, she participates in NRCAT’s event planning, educational resource development and distribution, communications, fundraising, grant writing and reporting, and lobbying. She holds a M.Div. from Wesley Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Physics from Vassar College. Rev. Morrow also serves on the extended clergy team at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, as Pastor for Public Witness and Ecumenical Connection.
Victor Pate - NY-CAIC Campaign Organizer - Victor Pate brings years of organizing experience into his role as NY Statewide CAIC Campaign Organizer. Victor is a formerly incarcerated individual who was released from prison in 1995 and successfully completed parole in 1999. His academic achievements include obtaining his G.E.D., Legal Research Certificate, Associate degree in Para-Legal Studies and Certification as a Legal Assistant. Victor became involved in the criminal justice reform arena after experiencing and overcoming the many obstacles faced by the formerly incarcerated coming home and striving to regain a foothold on life.
Victor is engaged in social and criminal justice issues on various fronts, including serving a chairperson of the National Action Network NYC Chapter’s Second Chance Program to assist formerly incarcerated men and women as they navigate to reenter society. Victor also serves as an active member of the Challenging Incarceration Coalition, New York State Prisoner Justice Network Steering Committee, and Incarcerated Nation. >> Listen to a podcast of Victor talking about his experience of solitary confinement.
Johnny Perez - Director of NRCAT's U.S. Prisons Program - Johnny is a highly accomplished criminal justice reform advocate, public speaker, and thought-leader in the field of ending torture and inhumane treatment in the U.S. prison system. As the Director of NRCAT’s U.S. Prisons Program, he champions an end of solitary confinement and equips faith communities and affected individuals to engage in education and legislative changes nationwide. Johnny represents NRCAT in several collaborative efforts with other organizations, including Unlock the Box, a national campaign to end solitary confinement and the Federal Anti-Solitary Taskforce (FAST).
Johnny proudly serves on the Board of Directors of the national Multifaith Initiative to End Mass Incarceration, JusticeAid, New York City's Urban Justice Center, and The Appeal. He is as an ambassador for the End The Exception Campaign and serves as an advisory board member for the DC-based Urban Institute's Prison Research and Innovation Initiative. As a committee member to the ARCH Network Committee at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), he helps advance initiatives to improve the well-being of both incarcerated people and staff.
Johnny is dedicated to mitigating the profound effects of incarceration on individuals and society. His insights, including drawing from lessons learned during 13 years of incarceration, make Johnny a sough-after speaker for law schools and universities across the country, and media interviews and op-eds. In addition to his professional achievements, Johnny wears the hats of a devoted father, mentor to formerly incarcerated students at St. Francis College of Brooklyn (his alma mater), and founder of Day 1 Pictures, showcasing his talent in photography. >>Learn more about Johnny’s life and work.
Michael Saavedra - National Coordinator, NRCAT National Network of Solitary Survivors - Michael Saavedra was released from prison in February 2017 after being inside for over 19 years. He was also kept in solitary confinement for over 15 years. During that time, he helped organize, lead, and participated in all three separate California prisoner hunger strikes against solitary confinement between 2011 and 2013. He also educated himself while in solitary and was able to learn and utilize the law to successfully sue the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation several times, as well as assist and teach others to do the same.
Michael graduated as a Pathway to Law School student at Riverside City College and recently earned his bachelor’s degree from UCLA, majoring in American Indian Studies with a minor in Chicanx and Central American Studies. Michael also started Riverside City College’s first formerly imprisoned student organization. A 2020/21 Justice Catalyst fellow, Michael’s fellowship project continues to seek ways to reduce the barriers for formerly incarcerated individuals to become lawyers. Since his release, he has worked with many different social justice and anti-prison industrial complex organizations locally and nationwide to help abolish mass incarceration, solitary confinement, over policing and advocating for directly impacted people of color in his community.
Rev. Ron Stief - Executive Director - Rev. Ron Stief, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, is the executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, an interfaith organization of more than 325 religious organizations committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture. He is a national leader and faith strategist on ending CIA torture and ending the torture of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and has been interviewed by CNN, HuffPost Live, the New York Times, Religion News Service, Governing Magazine, the Washington Post and the National Catholic Reporter. Rev. Stief sits on the Steering Committee of Shoulder to Shoulder / Standing with American Muslims Upholding American Values, co-leads the national advocacy strategy of the Washington DC Interreligious Staff Community, and is a member of the Federal Anti-Solitary Task Force which works to end solitary confinement in federal prisons, jails and immigrant detention.
From 1999 to 2008, Rev. Stief was director of the Washington D.C. office of the United Church of Christ where he led advocacy for its 5,500 congregations and 1.2 million members across the country on a broad range of domestic and international issues, through both the UCC's Washington D.C. and United Nations offices. Rev. Stief has taught as an adjunct faculty member of the Pacific School of Religion and the Starr King School for the Ministry, both in Berkeley, and the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy at the University of Montana and holds a Master of Arts in social ethics and a Master of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion.
