HRDC Speakers Bureau

Human Rights Defense Center staff are available to provide expert commentary on all aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system. They are widely recognized as authorities on prison and jail issues, including litigation and prisoners' rights, prison privatization, prison labor, the First Amendment in the prison context, felon disenfranchisement and public records/Freedom of Information Act issues.

HRDC staff members have been interviewed and quoted by news media across the nation and internationally. HRDC staff are available for phone, radio, television and in-person interviews; for our national media guide, please click here.

Available HRDC Speakers:

Paul Wright

HRDC's founder and executive director, Paul is a former prisoner who served 17 years in Washington state and started Prison Legal News while imprisoned in 1990. He is widely quoted on issues related to prison and jail conditions, First Amendment and free speech issues involving prisons and jails, public records and government transparency, prison-related litigation, media access to prisons and jails, and criminal justice policy. Paul is the co-editor of three anthologies on mass incarceration: The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry; Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor; and Prison Profiteers: Who Profits from Mass Imprisonment. Paul has testified before the Vermont legislature on public records issues, been quoted in publications ranging from USA Today to The Nation, and has appeared on Anderson Cooper 360. More about Paul Wright.