Margot Mendelson – Executive Director

Margot joined the Prison Law Office in 2016 and became Executive Director in 2023.  She works on a wide range of issues related to conditions of confinement, access to health care, disability rights, use of force, and staff misconduct in California prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers.  Margot’s work involves trial, appellate, and post-judgment enforcement work, as well as policy advocacy. Before joining the PLO, Margot worked at Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, where she practiced complex civil litigation in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level, with a focus on civil rights matters.  Margot was an Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellow, where she represented immigrants detained in Southern Arizona.  She clerked for Judge Diana G. Motz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Judge Catherine Blake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.  Margot received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2009 and her B.A. from Harvard College.  Margot is on the board of Immigrant Legal Defense, based in Oakland, California.

 

Daesha Jordan – Director of Human Resources & Operations

Daesha joined Prison Law Office in 2024. Her area of focus is to maintain and establish comprehensive human resources/ operations functions and policies, aligned with industry best practices and organizational values. She began her career passionate about justice, equity, and supporting underrepresented and underserved communities. These passions led her to work in the nonprofit field directly out of college, primarily focusing on family development, housing access, equity, and justice. As her career progressed, so did her passion for service. In previous positions, she has worked in finance, operations, administration, fiscal sponsorship, and HR. She values creating and maintaining strategic practices that center service, support, and value alignment. She was born and raised in California! Daesha has a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University; and a Master’s in Human Resource Management and Services from USC.

 

Staff Attorneys

 

Rana Anabtawi – Senior Staff Attorney

Rana started at the Prison Law Office in 2009 as a Legal Fellow and became a Staff Attorney in 2010.  She primarily works on improving disability accommodations in California state prisons under the Clark v. California and Armstrong II litigation.  Rana also monitors the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s provision of medical care under the Plata v. Newsom class action.  She graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 2005 and received her J.D. from Berkeley Law in 2009.  Rana was admitted to the California State Bar in 2009.

 

Patrick Booth – Supervising Staff Attorney

Patrick joined the Prison Law Office as a Jane Kahn Legal Fellow in September 2019, and was promoted to Staff Attorney in September 2021. He works on Armstrong v. Newsom, a statewide class action brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act on behalf of people with disabilities in California prisons. Patrick also works on Clark v. California, a case brought on behalf of incarcerated people with developmental disabilities. He received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in Integrative Biology in 2013 and his J.D. from Berkeley Law in 2019. At Berkeley, Patrick helped with the representation of death row clients while working in Berkeley’s Death Penalty Clinic, and he provided free legal assistance to low income and unemployed residents of the Bay Area in the law school’s Workers’ Rights Clinic. Patrick also served a summer clerk at the Oregon Innocence Project and the PLO.  Patrick was admitted to the California Bar in November 2019.

 

Tess Borden – Supervising Staff Attorney

Tess joined the Prison Law Office as a staff attorney in 2022. She works on issues related to disability accommodations in California state prisons and conditions of confinement in county jails. Before PLO, Tess was a staff attorney at the ACLU of New Jersey, where she litigated conditions of confinement and criminal legal system reform in federal and state courts and testified before the legislature on solitary confinement, prison oversight, and officer-perpetrated abuse. She was appointed by Governor Phil Murphy to serve on the Advisory Board to the New Jersey Office of Corrections Ombudsperson, an independent oversight entity, and on the Inter-Agency Working Group on Body Worn Cameras. Tess has also worked for the ACLU National Office, Human Rights Watch in New York and Dakar, Senegal, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, as well as spending time before law school as an immigration paralegal. Throughout law school, she served as researcher to the late Christof Heyns, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Tess received her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2014 and her B.A. from Yale College and clerked for the Honorable George A. O’Toole, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She is admitted to the New York Bar and is registered by the State Bar of California as a Registered Legal Aid Attorney.

 

Claudia Ceseña – Jane Kahn Legal Fellow

Claudia joined the Prison Law Office as a Jane Kahn Legal Fellow in March 2022. She works on Armstrong v. Newsom, a statewide class action brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act on behalf of people with disabilities in California prisons. Claudia also works on Plata v. Newsom, a class action lawsuit concerning the provision of medical care in California prisons. She obtained a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in Psychology, and a J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law. At Hastings, Claudia was part of the Child Welfare Practicum and interned at Legal Services for Children and National Center for Youth Law. Claudia also interned at the PLO in the summer of 2018. Before joining the PLO as a legal fellow, Claudia worked as a staff attorney at Legal Services for Children proving free legal representation to detained undocumented youth. Claudia was admitted to the California Bar in 2020. She is fluent in Spanish.

 

Steven Fama – Senior Staff Attorney

Steve joined the Prison Law Office in 1985.  Steve works primarily on Plata v. Newsom, a class action lawsuit concerning the provision of medical care in California prisons, and on the Coleman case regarding mental health care in CDCR. Steve worked on Madrid v. Gomez, which challenged the conditions of confinement in the supermax Pelican Bay State Prison. He first met, learned from, and tried to help people in prison in 1976 as an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley, with a program that worked with San Quentin’s “American Indian Cultural Group.”  As a law student (J.D. 1981, U.C. Davis King Hall), he worked at the Prisoners Legal Assistance Clinic.  He was admitted to the California State Bar in December 1981, and from 1982 to 1984 was a “Prisoner Writ Clerk” for the federal judges in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento). 

 

Mackenzie Halter – Jane Kahn Legal Fellow

Mackenzie joined the Prison Law Office as a Jane Kahn legal fellow in 2023. She works primarily on Plata v. Newsom, a class action lawsuit concerning the provision of medical care in California prisons, and Clark v. California, a case brought on behalf of incarcerated people with developmental disabilities. Before joining the PLO, Mackenzie represented incarcerated people who were denied access to gender affirming care and government employees who faced discrimination because of their race. She also worked on a campaign to abolish bail bond debt across California with the Debt Collective. Mackenzie received her J.D. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. During law school, she represented undocumented minors in immigration proceedings as a clinical law student. Mackenzie also interned with several civil rights organizations, including the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the ACLU of Arizona. Before law school, Mackenzie graduated with honors from Arizona State University, where she received a B.S. in Psychology and a B.S. in Public Service and Public Policy. Mackenzie was admitted to the California Bar in January 2021.

 

Alison Hardy – Supervising Staff Attorney

Alison joined the Prison Law Office in 1988 with a one-year grant to advocate for incarcerated people with HIV/AIDS.  After a brief stint in Oregon where she set up a prisoner’s rights project, Alison returned to PLO, focusing primarily on healthcare issues in California prisons and Fresno County Jail. She works on Plata v. Newsom and Hall v. County of Fresno.  She has tried cases challenging conditions for people with serious medical and mental illnesses and developmental disabilities, and people living on death row.  She earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and her J.D. at UCLA in 1988.  She was admitted to the California State Bar in December 1988.

 

 

Marissa Hatton – Staff Attorney

Marissa joined PLO in 2023. She was previously a supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow in Georgetown Law’s Civil Rights Clinic, where she litigated cases involving police misconduct, excessive use of force, and inhumane medical treatment by prison contractors. Prior to clinical teaching, she was a staff attorney at Equal Justice Under Law, where she litigated class action impact cases challenging poverty discrimination and criminal system reform issues nationwide. Marissa has litigated impact cases in over a dozen federal jurisdictions at both trial and appellate levels, with a focus on racial justice and the carceral state. Marissa received her B.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and her J.D. and LL.M. from Georgetown Law, where she founded and served as president of the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) and was awarded the Dean’s Certificate for Outstanding Service to the law school community. She is licensed to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and the Chickasaw Nation.

 

 

A.D. Sean Lewis – Trans Beyond Bars, Project Manager

A.D. joined the Prison Law Office in 2022. After completing his Equal Justice Works fellowship at PLO, he founded Trans Beyond Bars, a project that supports trans, gender expansive, and intersex (TGI) people in locked facilities by providing legal information and resources to ensure their futures exist beyond bars. Prior to joining the PLO, A.D. founded the Trans Advocacy Project at Disability Rights California. During law school, A.D. interned with Disability Rights Washington’s Trans in Prison Justice Project and East Bay Community Law Center, volunteered for local organizations that support incarcerated individuals and trans people, and founded the TGI Pro Bono project. A.D. graduated from Stanford Law and is a member of the California State Bar.

 

 

Investigators

 

 

Skye Lovett – Investigator

Skye joined the Prison Law Office in February 2019, and they monitor conditions of confinement in prisons across the state of California and helps monitor conditions at several Arizona state prisons. They are currently the lead litigation assistant on Clark v. California. Prior to joining PLO, Skye worked as a facilitator on diversity, equity, and inclusion projects, and as an undergraduate worked on the prison divestment campaign at Stanford University. They received a B.A. in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity from Stanford, the endowment of which continues to fund prisons and policing

 

Amber Norris – Investigator

Amber joined the Prison Law Office in 2013.  She investigates and monitors conditions of confinement in California and Arizona prisons, and in county jails. She works primarily on Armstrong v. Newsom.  Prior to joining the PLO, she worked as an investigator at the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, the Correctional Association of New York, and Human Rights Watch. She has a B.A. in Spanish from Portland State University and an M.A. in human rights law from American University, and is fluent in Spanish.

 

Gabriela Pelsinger –  Investigator

Gabriela joined the Prison Law Office in 2018, was promoted to Supervising Litigation Assistant in June 2019, and promoted to Investigator/Monitor in July 2020. She monitors conditions of confinement in prisons in California and at the Arizona state prison in Tucson.  She is part of the team investigating and litigating conditions of confinement in immigration detention centers.  Prior to joining the Prison Law Office, she lived in Santiago, Chile, and worked in publishing and translation. She formerly worked as an Advocacy and Administrative Assistant at Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) in Oakland, supporting grassroots and legislative advocacy to reduce the amount of people incarcerated in California’s prisons and jails. She has also worked as an educator in youth detention centers in New York City. She holds a B.A. in Ethnicity & Race Studies from Columbia University, and is fluent in Spanish. 

 

Litigation Assistants

 

Sophie Mishara  – Supervising Litigation Assistant

Sophie joined the Prison Law Office in July 2021, and she monitors conditions of confinement in prisons across the state of California and helps monitor conditions at several Arizona state prisons. Prior to joining PLO, Sophie interned at public defender offices in Ann Arbor and in Boston, and she worked for the New England Innocence Project as an intake intern. Sophie also worked as a research assistant for a professor in college, where she documented and published exonerations of wrongfully convicted individuals in Detroit. Sophie received a B.A. with distinction in Public Policy with a minor in Law, Justice and Social Change from the University of Michigan in 2020, and is originally from outside of Boston.

 

Marie Berry – Litigation Assistant

Marie joined the PLO in February 2023. As a litigation assistant, she monitors the conditions of confinement in prisons across the state of California and in several Arizona state prisons. Prior to joining PLO, Marie interned at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doing intake and enforcement for new and ongoing labor violation cases. She earned her B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University in May 2022, where she completed her senior honors thesis on the implications, perception, and effectiveness of laws and policies targeting farm workers in the U.S. Other research projects she completed focused on the impact of COVID-19 on immigrant workers in Staten Island, police brutality, and the legal strategies used to shield law enforcement from accountability.

 

Emilio Bustamante – Litigation Assistant

Emilio joined the PLO in July 2023.

 

Audrey Lim – Litigation Assistant

Audrey joined the Prison Law Office in 2022 and monitors conditions of confinement in prisons across the State of California. Prior to joining PLO, Audrey worked in commercial litigation, and as an undergraduate volunteered with a student legal clinic, specializing in providing free tax return preparation services. She graduated with High Distinction from University of California, Berkeley, receiving a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Conservation & Resources studies. Audrey is an avid reader and is originally from Orange County, California.

 

Joshua Marin – Litigation Assistant

Joshua joined the Prison Law Office in 2023. Prior to joining PLO, Joshua volunteered with the ACLU of Northern California to process civil liberties violation intakes as well as interned with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children to provide legal assistance and information to people impacted by the criminal legal system. Joshua obtained a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Criminal Justice at San Francisco State University. There, he interned with Project Rebound, assisting formerly incarcerated people in applying to the university and accessing campus resources.

 

Dewi Zarni  – Litigation Assistant

Dewi joined the Prison Law Office in 2022. As a litigation assistant, she monitors conditions of confinement in prisons across the state of California and in several Arizona state prisons. Prior to joining PLO, Dewi worked as a research fellow for the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, and throughout college she volunteered with the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, where she assisted with asylum applications and coordinated volunteers. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in American Studies with a concentration in the Criminalization of Race and Migration, and graduated with highest distinction.

 

 Administrative Staff

 

Ashley Kirby – Office Manager

Ashley started working with the Prison Law Office in 2000 as a part-time mail room assistant and now manages the day to day functionality of the office and staff, and manages the case dockets for the office litigation.   Ashley also is the human guardian of Scout, the Golden Retriever who greets all visitors to our office.