Deanne Benos

Co-Founder and Director, Women's Justice Institute

Deanne is Co-Founder and Director of The Women’s Justice Institute (WJI), a Chicago-based, national “think and do tank” building transformational justice across sectors with-and-for system-impacted women with the goal of ending women’s mass incarceration. She is the co-author of the WJI’s groundbreaking report on ending women’s mass incarceration, “Redefining the Narrative;” and the Executive Producer and Director of the report’s powerful public awareness campaign video that confronts the deeply gendered false narratives that uniquely confront impacted women. A national leader on issues related to women’s mass incarceration, she the Co-Chair of the American Probation & Parole Association (APPA) Justice-Involved Women & Girls Committee and has engaged in global efforts as a member of the New York Vance Center for International Justice Women’s Prison Project, as an advocate for the successful passage of the United Nation’s Bankgok Rules for Women Prisoners and as a former member of the International Corrections & Prisons Association (ICPA). She has presented her work in several countries, including Colombia and Thailand. Benos is the author of several articles and publications, and has co-authored a Gender Responsive Practices Assessment (GIPA) report for the states of Illinois, Washington and Oregon. She was also the co-author of the U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Corrections “Barracks Behind Bars'' reports on addressing challenges related to incarceration among veterans.