Linda Arian, Executive Director
Linda is a leader whose lived experiences give her a desire to help people expand their vision, thinking, and to reach their full potential. Her commitment to helping those in need inspires action in those around her and she is unapologetic about giving a voice to the voiceless.
Linda is currently an outpatient therapist with the Massachusetts Mentor Network. There she provides emotional support to adults and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral complex needs. Prior to joining the network, she worked as a counselor, mentor, and advocate for at-risk youth and adults transitioning from the criminal justice system. Working with court involved youth has shaped her understanding of the criminal justice system and how society’s ills play a leading role in their lives. She is a passionate advocate for restorative justice programs and CORI reform.
She holds a BA in Business Management from Emmanuel College, Masters in Criminal Justice from Suffolk University, and a Masters in Social Work from New York University Silver School of Social Work. While in NY, she gained hands-on experience at The Center of Court Innovation and Getting Out and Staying Out.
Linda’s love of helping others extends to her favorite four-legged friend, Keke. Her love of dogs prompted her to serve on the dog rescue board for Paws from Afar, a foster-based non-profit dedicated to finding homes for dogs that are in danger of abandonment, abuse, or euthanasia.
Linda is a leader whose lived experiences give her a desire to help people expand their vision, thinking, and to reach their full potential. Her commitment to helping those in need inspires action in those around her and she is unapologetic about giving a voice to the voiceless.
Linda is currently an outpatient therapist with the Massachusetts Mentor Network. There she provides emotional support to adults and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral complex needs. Prior to joining the network, she worked as a counselor, mentor, and advocate for at-risk youth and adults transitioning from the criminal justice system. Working with court involved youth has shaped her understanding of the criminal justice system and how society’s ills play a leading role in their lives. She is a passionate advocate for restorative justice programs and CORI reform.
She holds a BA in Business Management from Emmanuel College, Masters in Criminal Justice from Suffolk University, and a Masters in Social Work from New York University Silver School of Social Work. While in NY, she gained hands-on experience at The Center of Court Innovation and Getting Out and Staying Out.
Linda’s love of helping others extends to her favorite four-legged friend, Keke. Her love of dogs prompted her to serve on the dog rescue board for Paws from Afar, a foster-based non-profit dedicated to finding homes for dogs that are in danger of abandonment, abuse, or euthanasia.
Cynthia Goldberg, Board Chair and President
Cynthia Goldberg is the Founder and Director of The F8 Foundation, which works with returning citizens and those who suffer from substance use disorders. Her program has an out-of-the-box approach which focuses on full life recovery.
Cynthia works with many of the Massachusetts and Southern prisons for re-entry plans back into society. Many of her clients are on probation and parole and this program focuses on a specialized after care plan to help with the re-integration into society. She works closely with the courts, rehabilitation facilities and sober living facilities. She serves as a prison advocate.
Cynthia has served on the Board of Directors for Dress for Success and The Family Service Coalition. She was born and educated in Boston and has a background in Nursing and Business. Cynthia has been married since 2006 and has one grown daughter. She joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Cynthia Goldberg is the Founder and Director of The F8 Foundation, which works with returning citizens and those who suffer from substance use disorders. Her program has an out-of-the-box approach which focuses on full life recovery.
Cynthia works with many of the Massachusetts and Southern prisons for re-entry plans back into society. Many of her clients are on probation and parole and this program focuses on a specialized after care plan to help with the re-integration into society. She works closely with the courts, rehabilitation facilities and sober living facilities. She serves as a prison advocate.
Cynthia has served on the Board of Directors for Dress for Success and The Family Service Coalition. She was born and educated in Boston and has a background in Nursing and Business. Cynthia has been married since 2006 and has one grown daughter. She joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Eric Tennen, Treasurer
Eric Tennen is a partner at Swomley and Tennen, LLP. He is primarily a trial attorney, representing persons charged with serious felonies. He specializes in issues related to sex offenses and collateral consequences, such as involuntary civil commitment and sex offender registration. In addition to his work as a trial attorney, Eric has extensive experience as an appellate advocate. He began his career as a judicial law clerk. He has successfully argued many cases in the Appellate Courts of Massachusetts. He has also authored several amicus briefs on behalf of various organizations.
Eric is one of few attorneys authorized to represent indigent defendants in District Court, Superior Court, and in post-conviction matters (appeals), as well as persons who are charged with murder, petitioned for involuntarily commitment, and those appearing before the Sex Offender Registry Board. He also represents Federal defendants through the Criminal Justice Act.
In 2011, he was awarded the Paul Liacos Mental Health Advocacy Award by the Committee for Public Counsel Services for zealous advocacy on behalf of indigent defendants. Since 2015, he has been selected as a "Super Lawyer" as published in Boston Magazine. He graduated from the University of Michigan, with distinction, in 1998. He graduated from Boston University School of Law, magna cum laude, in 2001. He received his LL.M. in Criminal Law from the University of Buffalo School of Law in 2004. He is also an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Law. Eric joined the Board of Directors in 2009.
Eric Tennen is a partner at Swomley and Tennen, LLP. He is primarily a trial attorney, representing persons charged with serious felonies. He specializes in issues related to sex offenses and collateral consequences, such as involuntary civil commitment and sex offender registration. In addition to his work as a trial attorney, Eric has extensive experience as an appellate advocate. He began his career as a judicial law clerk. He has successfully argued many cases in the Appellate Courts of Massachusetts. He has also authored several amicus briefs on behalf of various organizations.
Eric is one of few attorneys authorized to represent indigent defendants in District Court, Superior Court, and in post-conviction matters (appeals), as well as persons who are charged with murder, petitioned for involuntarily commitment, and those appearing before the Sex Offender Registry Board. He also represents Federal defendants through the Criminal Justice Act.
In 2011, he was awarded the Paul Liacos Mental Health Advocacy Award by the Committee for Public Counsel Services for zealous advocacy on behalf of indigent defendants. Since 2015, he has been selected as a "Super Lawyer" as published in Boston Magazine. He graduated from the University of Michigan, with distinction, in 1998. He graduated from Boston University School of Law, magna cum laude, in 2001. He received his LL.M. in Criminal Law from the University of Buffalo School of Law in 2004. He is also an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Law. Eric joined the Board of Directors in 2009.
Nat Harrison
Nat, now retired, and his wife returned to the United States in September 2014 after many years living and working in France and elsewhere overseas and are now settled in Watertown. He had several reasons for wanting to return, but key among them was a desire to join what appears to be a burgeoning groundswell against mass incarceration. He is particularly interested in efforts to repeal legislation imposing life without the possibility of parole sentences.
His engagement is also deeply personal and dates from 1973 when, in the aftermath of the uprising at Attica, he was moved to join a Concord-based group called the Peaceful Movement Committee (PMC). The Committee brought together members of the community and men serving time at MCI Concord. They met once a week to talk and share and to work on various projects. He was a reporter then for the Lowell Sun and as such helped with the editing and printing of a PMC newspaper.
It was through the PMC that Nat met a man just a few years younger than he, who was at the start of what would be life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remains incarcerated in Massachusetts, though he continues to appeal his conviction. They have stayed connected over the last 40+ years and, as he has been moved frequently from prison to prison, Nat believes that as a result he may have visited every state penal institution in Massachusetts.
He left the Lowell Sun and the United States in 1976, returning each summer to visit family and friends. He worked five years as a freelance journalist in Cairo and then joined the Paris-based French news agency Agence France-Presse in 1982. He retired from AFP, where he worked as a correspondent and editor, in November 2011. In Paris, he was a prison visitor and was part of a national program to offer support and friendship to men from France and other countries serving short-to-medium-term sentences. Through this program he was able to visit four different French prisons.
Nat has been married since 1973 and has two grown children, a son and a daughter, and one grandson. He was born in Boston in 1946. Nat joined the Board of Directors in 2016.
Nat, now retired, and his wife returned to the United States in September 2014 after many years living and working in France and elsewhere overseas and are now settled in Watertown. He had several reasons for wanting to return, but key among them was a desire to join what appears to be a burgeoning groundswell against mass incarceration. He is particularly interested in efforts to repeal legislation imposing life without the possibility of parole sentences.
His engagement is also deeply personal and dates from 1973 when, in the aftermath of the uprising at Attica, he was moved to join a Concord-based group called the Peaceful Movement Committee (PMC). The Committee brought together members of the community and men serving time at MCI Concord. They met once a week to talk and share and to work on various projects. He was a reporter then for the Lowell Sun and as such helped with the editing and printing of a PMC newspaper.
It was through the PMC that Nat met a man just a few years younger than he, who was at the start of what would be life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remains incarcerated in Massachusetts, though he continues to appeal his conviction. They have stayed connected over the last 40+ years and, as he has been moved frequently from prison to prison, Nat believes that as a result he may have visited every state penal institution in Massachusetts.
He left the Lowell Sun and the United States in 1976, returning each summer to visit family and friends. He worked five years as a freelance journalist in Cairo and then joined the Paris-based French news agency Agence France-Presse in 1982. He retired from AFP, where he worked as a correspondent and editor, in November 2011. In Paris, he was a prison visitor and was part of a national program to offer support and friendship to men from France and other countries serving short-to-medium-term sentences. Through this program he was able to visit four different French prisons.
Nat has been married since 1973 and has two grown children, a son and a daughter, and one grandson. He was born in Boston in 1946. Nat joined the Board of Directors in 2016.
Deb Goldfarb
Deb Goldfarb is a licensed independent clinical social worker who has been working with clients and in communities affected by the criminal legal system for the past 10 years. In recent years, she has expanded her work beyond direct clinical care to include advocacy efforts. Deb's work in the field began with providing case management to clients experiencing significant mental illness, addiction, homelessness, and personal crises in Boston. Following graduate school, Deb worked in the Massachusetts Department of Corrections as a mental health professional. Primarily working with females incarcerated at MCI-Framingham, she gained invaluable clinical experience in trauma, serious mental illness, and substance use while providing individual and group counseling as well as crisis intervention. She worked with both individuals awaiting trial and those serving a wide range of state prison sentences. Deb also worked as a jail diversion clinician with a local police department, a position funded by the MA Department of Mental Health. Through this role she also provided training on mental health for police through the Crisis Intervention Training programs in the Boston region.
While working with the police and in the state prisons she felt a strong need to advocate for clients negatively affected by the systems she was working in, and became involved in the National Association of Social Workers - Massachusetts Chapter, where she is now co-chair of their Criminal Justice Advocacy Committee. Through this volunteer work she helps lead a group of passionate social workers throughout the Commonwealth in legislative advocacy on necessary criminal justice reform through organizing legislative and educational events, providing legislative testimony and partnering with other local advocacy groups.
Currently Deb holds two part-time positions within the field of social work. She is a clinical social worker at Harvard Law School's Criminal Justice Institute, a law clinic which takes a holistic approach to client representation. The clinic serves indigent adults and juvenile clients facing misdemeanor and felony charges in Boston criminal courts. She also holds a management position with Boston Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry, where she runs a clinical case management program that supports some of the city’s most vulnerable individuals. The program works with high risk individuals who frequently access psychiatric emergency services, have high rates of inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations and are affected by many social determinants of health, including the criminal legal system. Through this work, Deb collaborates closely with many local and state agencies and providers. Deb joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Deb Goldfarb is a licensed independent clinical social worker who has been working with clients and in communities affected by the criminal legal system for the past 10 years. In recent years, she has expanded her work beyond direct clinical care to include advocacy efforts. Deb's work in the field began with providing case management to clients experiencing significant mental illness, addiction, homelessness, and personal crises in Boston. Following graduate school, Deb worked in the Massachusetts Department of Corrections as a mental health professional. Primarily working with females incarcerated at MCI-Framingham, she gained invaluable clinical experience in trauma, serious mental illness, and substance use while providing individual and group counseling as well as crisis intervention. She worked with both individuals awaiting trial and those serving a wide range of state prison sentences. Deb also worked as a jail diversion clinician with a local police department, a position funded by the MA Department of Mental Health. Through this role she also provided training on mental health for police through the Crisis Intervention Training programs in the Boston region.
While working with the police and in the state prisons she felt a strong need to advocate for clients negatively affected by the systems she was working in, and became involved in the National Association of Social Workers - Massachusetts Chapter, where she is now co-chair of their Criminal Justice Advocacy Committee. Through this volunteer work she helps lead a group of passionate social workers throughout the Commonwealth in legislative advocacy on necessary criminal justice reform through organizing legislative and educational events, providing legislative testimony and partnering with other local advocacy groups.
Currently Deb holds two part-time positions within the field of social work. She is a clinical social worker at Harvard Law School's Criminal Justice Institute, a law clinic which takes a holistic approach to client representation. The clinic serves indigent adults and juvenile clients facing misdemeanor and felony charges in Boston criminal courts. She also holds a management position with Boston Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry, where she runs a clinical case management program that supports some of the city’s most vulnerable individuals. The program works with high risk individuals who frequently access psychiatric emergency services, have high rates of inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations and are affected by many social determinants of health, including the criminal legal system. Through this work, Deb collaborates closely with many local and state agencies and providers. Deb joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Alexandra Brunelle
Alexandra “Lexie” Brunelle is a Public Defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services. She currently represents persons charged in Middlesex County with serious felonies. Prior to practicing in Middlesex County, she practiced in Bristol County, Suffolk County, and Norfolk County as a Public Defender. Since all of her cases are court-appointed cases, she represents individuals charged with a variety of crimes including drug trafficking, serious sex offenses, home invasion, and attempted murders. While working in Suffolk County, Lexie worked to reverse convictions that were illegally obtained by the rogue chemist, Annie Dookhan.
Lexie is passionate about her work as a Public Defender and fights against a number of issues that unfairly plague the indigent population in the criminal justice system. She would like to see the criminal justice system focus more on mental health and addiction recovery services rather than incarceration.
She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, magna cum laude, with great distinction, in 2009. She graduated from New England Law Boston, in 2012. Lexie joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Alexandra “Lexie” Brunelle is a Public Defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services. She currently represents persons charged in Middlesex County with serious felonies. Prior to practicing in Middlesex County, she practiced in Bristol County, Suffolk County, and Norfolk County as a Public Defender. Since all of her cases are court-appointed cases, she represents individuals charged with a variety of crimes including drug trafficking, serious sex offenses, home invasion, and attempted murders. While working in Suffolk County, Lexie worked to reverse convictions that were illegally obtained by the rogue chemist, Annie Dookhan.
Lexie is passionate about her work as a Public Defender and fights against a number of issues that unfairly plague the indigent population in the criminal justice system. She would like to see the criminal justice system focus more on mental health and addiction recovery services rather than incarceration.
She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, magna cum laude, with great distinction, in 2009. She graduated from New England Law Boston, in 2012. Lexie joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Naloti Palma-Kaluma
Naloti is a Recovery Specialist at Spectrum Health Systems, Inc. They currently work with those struggling with substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders. Naloti worked for the YES on 3 Ballot Campaign to uphold the transgender non-discrimination law in Massachusetts in 2018. They have a history and strong interest in Social Justice advocacy work and an interest in the treatment of the LBGTQ+ criminal justice population, re-entry programs, and diversion programs for mental health, addiction treatment, and juvenile offenders.
Naloti has experience using legal technology to help close the Access to Justice Gap. They plan to continue using their knowledge of the law and legal technology to create a world where there is effective and efficient justice for all.
They graduated from Suffolk University Law school in January 2021. Before that, Naloti graduated from Westfield State University, cum laude, in 2016.
Naloti joined the Board of Directors in 2020.
Naloti is a Recovery Specialist at Spectrum Health Systems, Inc. They currently work with those struggling with substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders. Naloti worked for the YES on 3 Ballot Campaign to uphold the transgender non-discrimination law in Massachusetts in 2018. They have a history and strong interest in Social Justice advocacy work and an interest in the treatment of the LBGTQ+ criminal justice population, re-entry programs, and diversion programs for mental health, addiction treatment, and juvenile offenders.
Naloti has experience using legal technology to help close the Access to Justice Gap. They plan to continue using their knowledge of the law and legal technology to create a world where there is effective and efficient justice for all.
They graduated from Suffolk University Law school in January 2021. Before that, Naloti graduated from Westfield State University, cum laude, in 2016.
Naloti joined the Board of Directors in 2020.