Brittany White is a voice for formerly incarcerated Black Women. As an organizer, strategist, and trainer, she centers her work on ensuring that women and their unique experiences in the American penal system are not erased from conversations or solutions related to gun violence and mass incarceration. Ms. White believes that cultivating a life of dignity for those most marginalized in our society is the key ingredient to developing justice-impacted leadership and is one of the highest callings of her life. This is accomplished by shifting people from shame to solution and is a process best led by those who have maneuvered through their own journeys with incarceration.
Brittany herself served five years within the Alabama Department of Corrections from 2009-2014. This eye-opening journey and loss of freedom gave her firsthand knowledge of the phenomenon of mass incarceration: an amassed system of people that society does not know how to help. During the course of her incarceration, she developed a strong desire to address the corruption and despair she witnessed on a day-to-day basis and, once released, and with the help of her church, found her purpose and a platform to articulate and act upon her experience. Subsequently, she went from being a volunteer faith leader, to a professional organizer, to the LIVE FREE Manager for Faith in Texas. As a part of this work, she raised funds and bailed out people of color from the local county jail to bring awareness to the harm of money bail policies, and worked to educate political leaders and candidates about ways to reduce incarceration. Ms. White serves as the decarceration director for Live Free and, as a visiting practioner in residence, will spend the year developing a new project to strengthen opportunities and skills for formerly incarcerated communities.
Brittany has participated in panels, trainings, and conferences across the country and spoke with numerous presidential candidates during the 2020 campaign about their criminal justice platforms. Most recently she has engaged with the Biden administration on initiatives for formerly incarcerated persons. She has organized countless panels of formerly incarcerated persons and is currently spearheading an initiative to cultivate the leadership of “system survivors” across Faith in Action’s national network. Her work and expertise has been featured in national and local media, including The New York Times, MSNBC, The Hill, and NBC LX.