Project Description
Glenn Rodriguez serves as Deputy Director at the Center for Community Alternatives. Glenn is an innovative leader and advocate for criminal justice reform. Glenn’s passion for this work derives from his personal experience with the criminal legal system. Incarcerated in 1990, at the age of 16, Glenn’s inspiring tale of redemption and fight for freedom captured mainstream media attention in 2017 and have since served to facilitate debate on the responsible and ethical use of technology in the correctional system. Since obtaining parole in 2017, Glenn has been employed at the Center for Community Alternatives, where he has served as Case Manager, Senior Case Manager, Director of Case Management, Horizon Program Director, and Director of Juvenile Facilities and Reentry. In his current role, Glenn oversees CCA’s facility-based programs in ACS-operated secure detention facilities as well as the provision of supportive reintegrative services for young people (ages 16-24) returning home from secure detention facilities, Rikers Island, and New York state prison.
Through his public speaking engagements across the country, and his writings, Glenn aims to humanize, and give a voice to, incarcerated men, women, and youth impacted by the criminal legal system by sharing his story and engaging in meaningful discourse and problem-solving with all stakeholders. Glenn’s story is a compelling tale of courage and perseverance in the face of adversity; a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of education and introspection.
Glenn’s story has been featured in articles in the Washington Monthly, The New York Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, NPR Radio, and ABC News. Glenn’s story also appears in the VPRO documentary entitled “Algorithms Rule Us All,” and the podcast series entitled “The Watchmen: Sleepwalkers,” episode 3. Glenn has presented at the National Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency, the New York City School of Data, and the Brooklyn Law School. He has co-authored a chapter entitled “The Coming of the Super-Predators: Race, Policing, and Resistance to the Criminalization of Youth,” with Marsha Weissman, Ph.D., Social Science, Adjunct Professor, Sociology, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University, and Evan Weissman, Ph.D., Geography, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition, Syracuse University.