Kenneth Hartman Joins CLEAR to Discuss the Role of Lived Experience in Making Change

CLEAR recently welcomed award-winning writer and prison reform advocate Kenneth Hartman for a powerful conversation on how lived experience can inform and advance meaningful, lasting change in the US prison system.

Kenneth Hartman Joins CLEAR to Discuss the Role of Lived Experience in Making Change
Hartman spoke about his time in prison and his work since his release.

4.16.25 — Northeastern Law’s Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR) hosted Kenneth Hartman, an award-winning writer and prison reform activist, on April 16. Hartman discussed the importance of leveraging lived experience to drive sustainable and impactful change within the US prison reform movement.

Hartman was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole at the age of 19 after killing Thomas Allen Fellows during a fistfight in a park in Long Beach, California. He served more than 37 years in prison before former California Governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. Now as the executive director of Transformative Programming Works (TPW), Hartman is one of several formerly incarcerated leaders from community-based organizations offering restorative justice programs in California prisons.

To those gathered in-person in Dockser Hall’s Moot courtroom and online, Hartman spoke about his time in prison and his work since his release on December 20, 2017.

“It is important to provide opportunities for our students to hear different perspectives of how to bring about reform within the US criminal legal system,” said Deborah A. Jackson, CLEAR’s managing director. “Learning about other carcel systems from someone who has lived experience in the US system can be impactful. While some believe that abolition is the only solution, it is necessary to understand other options that may be available in the interim.”

The discussion was moderated by Professor Michael Meltsner, a renowned criminal law expert and award-winning author.

Hartman explained his journey on the leadership team at TPW and the importance of diverse leadership in the prison reform movement. He emphasized not only the inclusion but also the necessity of including formerly incarcerated individuals in decision-making positions. “We want to have an organization that’s actually led by lived experience,” he said. “People who want to be a part of this reform movement must recognize that lived experience deserves a seat at the table …. It is our story. We’re the people who did time. We know what goes on. We know what happens.”

Hartman also discussed Governor Gavin Newsom’s “California model” of statewide prison reform. This model is based on Scandinavian standards, which focus on humanizing prisoners and investing in rehabilitation over punishment, Hartman explained. Hartman has traveled to Norway to conduct his own research and investigation into this approach and extolled its tenets as transformative for the US system, were they to be meaningfully implemented.

“We need lawyers that are willing to come in and say, this system needs work and fixing, we need people who know how to do that,” said Hartman.

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As the executive director of Transformative Programming Works, Hartman is one of several formerly incarcerated leaders from community-based organizations offering restorative justice programs in California prisons.

As the executive director of Transformative Programming Works, Hartman is one of several formerly incarcerated leaders from community-based organizations offering restorative justice programs in California prisons.

Professor Michael Meltsner moderated the conversation.

Professor Michael Meltsner moderated the conversation.

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