Jacqueline is a Co-Founder of PREPARE and serves as PREPARE’s Director of Parole. She leads the in-person parole preparation program at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCI-W) . The PREPARE program at MCI-W consists of monthly parole preparation and reentry workshops, as well as one-to-one advocacy support of women preparing for parole hearings, parole rehears and reconsiderations, and reentry planning for their mandatory releases. Jacqueline works with a smaller number of female clients residing at Patuxent Institution who are preparing for parole.
Jacqueline also supports on other elements of PREPARE’s in-person advocacy work, including facilitating parole preparation workshops at men’s institutions in Maryland, and representing PREPARE at the regular Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) reentry fairs at correctional facilities across the state.
Jacqueline’s background is in law, criminology, and English literature. Jacqueline was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, UK, in 1995. She graduated with a Master’s (MPhil) degree in English Studies from Oxford in 1997, and a Master’s (MPhil) degree in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, UK in 2000. In 1994, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws with first class honors (BA, LLB (Hons)) from the University of Tasmania, Australia.
From 1998-1999, Jacqueline served as Legal Clerk (Research Associate) to The Honorable Justice Mary Finn, Appellate Court Judge on the Family Court of Australia. In 2000, Jacqueline joined the Institute for Law and Justice (ILJ), Alexandria, Virginia, where she worked on evaluations of programs funded by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), including grants administered by the DOJ’s Violence Against Women Office. She also worked on community policing and staffing studies for municipal police departments.
Before joining PREPARE, Jacqueline spent 24 years as a proud member of the US military spouse community. Her family spent 15 of those years overseas, supporting her husband’s assignments in the US Navy, with tours in Italy, Hawaii, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore. Jacqueline is inspired daily by the strength, resiliency, and commitment to prepare of the women in MCI-W. Along with her PREPARE colleagues, she is energized by the support, contributions, and participation of the wide circle of volunteers, funders, partners, and cheerleaders that have supported PREPARE in its growth and work.