Jhody Devon Polk

Jhody practiced law for years before ever earning a degree. As a jailhouse lawyer in a Florida prison, she was one of thousands who provided critical legal support from the inside - drafting parole applications, appeals, civil rights complaints, and more. While legal counsel ends at sentencing for most, Jhody became part of a powerful underground legal network, fighting for dignity, justice, and freedom post conviction behind bars. Now based in New York, Jhody founded the Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative (JLI) to legitimize jailhouse lawyering and expand it beyond prison walls. With over 30,000 New Yorkers incarcerated in state and federal prisons, JLI helps ensure they return home with the skills to know, use, and shape the law. 

Jhody envisions a New York where legal tools and information are accessible in every neighborhood, beginning with pathways for jailhouse lawyers to return their legal skills to the communities they came from. In collaboration with the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law, she is developing the first credential in community paralegal studies open to all, formerly incarcerated or not. Jhody is on a mission to build legal empowerment and advocacy hubs across the city to expand access to quality legal education and support for all New Yorkers.