Michael Braham
Paralegal, Alexander T. Taubes
Michael Braham was born and raised in Hartford Connecticut and served 25 years in
state prison. During his incarceration, he earned Bachelor’s degrees from Wesleyan
University and Charter Oak State College. Michael now works as a paralegal for New
Haven attorney Alexander Taubes while he also attends Yale University’s Access to
Law School program. From there he plans on earning a law degree which will enable
him to join Taubes’ law firm to assist in the struggle for justice and equality.
Alexander Taubes
Attorney, Alexander T. Taubes
Alexander Taubes was born and raised in Madison, Connecticut, and is a graduate
of Boston University and Yale Law School. He works as a civil rights attorney in
relentless pursuit of justice for people impacted by the criminal justice system. In
the past two years, Alexander has successfully argued for more than 530 years to
be taken off of the sentences of his clients through sentence modifications and
commutations. He is proud to have two former clients now working at his law
firm alongside him for justice, including Michael Braham.
Lori Gruen
Professor, Wesleyan University
Lori Gruen is the William Griffin Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University. She is
also a professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Science in Society, and
coordinator of Wesleyan Animal Studies. She is the author and editor of over a dozen
books, including Entangled Empathy (Lantern, 2015); Critical Terms for Animal
Studies (Chicago, 2018), animaladies (Bloomsbury, 2018); Ethics and Animals: An
Introduction (Cambridge, 2011, second edition 2021), and Ethics of Captivity (Oxford,
2014). Her most recent books, include Carceral Logics, edited with Justin Marceau.
Gruen was the Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor of Distinguished Teaching at
Princeton University’s Center for Human Values in 2018. She is also a leader in prison
education, and has taught at Bayview Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Chelsea,
NY (now closed); the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury CT when it was a
women’s prison; and Cheshire Correctional Institution in Cheshire, CT, a maximum
security men’s prison and York Correctional Institution, a woman’s prison. She was also
the first chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Center for Prison Education at
Wesleyan. She is a Fellow of the Hastings Center for Bioethics and the Inaugural
Research Fellow for the Brooks Institute for Animal Law and Policy.
Gruen’s work lies at the intersection of ethical and political theory and practice, with a
particular focus on issues that impact those often overlooked in philosophical
investigations, e.g. women, people of color, incarcerated people, non-human
animals. She is currently working on topics that inform carceral logics, drawing on the
black intellectual tradition, as well as legal scholarship and social theory. In addition she
is working on another book on entangled empathy focusing on prisons and zoos.
Sharmese Walcott
Attorney, Office of the State's Attorney
Sharmese L. Walcott was appointed by the Criminal Justice Commission as State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford on September 25, 2020. State’s Attorney Walcott is the chief law enforcement officer in the Judicial District of Hartford, which includes the capital city and 18 surrounding communities. The State’s Attorney oversees employees at the Judicial District courthouse in Hartford, Geographical Area courts in Enfield, Hartford and Manchester and the Juvenile Court and Community Court in Hartford. State’s Attorney Walcott joined the Division of Criminal Justice in 2007 in the Danbury Judicial District. She was honored with the Theresa Foss Award for her work in Justice and Advocacy supporting those suffering with mental health needs. In 2018, she moved to the Hartford Judicial District where she served until her appointment as Executive Assistant State’s Attorney in 2020. Recently, she was honored by the Connecticut Alliance with the Advocacy In Action Award for her work in the area of sexual based offenses. In addition, State’s Attorney Walcott is the law enforcement lead and co-founder of the Regionalized Human Trafficking Recovery Taskforce/ She is a member of the Trafficking In Persons Council, active in the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee, and serves on the Governor’s Council on Women and Girls. She also serves on the Legislative and Management Committees for DCJ, and is the former Chair of the Commission on the Standardization for the Collection of Evidence in Sexual Assault Investigations. State’s Attorney Walcott serves as a partner to local government and organizations in their efforts to interrupt, intervene and prevent violence, particularly gun violence, in the community. State’s Attorney Walcott earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Western Connecticut State University in Danbury and a Juris Doctor Degree from the George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C.