Steve Adami, MPA
"The degree of a civilization can be judged by entering its prisons" Fyodor Dostoevsky
On the 29th of March 2024, I was granted a pardon by Governor Gavin Newsom
ABOUT
On March 29, 2024, I was granted a pardon by Governor Gavin Newsom. After spending over two decades in and out of jails and prison my life changed. My recovery and transformation started in a pair of handcuffs. After being released from prison in 2010, I earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration (Public Policy/Criminal Justice); was inducted into Pi Alpha Alpha, a National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration; and received the Barbara Jordan Award for Academic Excellence. In 2014 I was hired by the San Francisco Adult Probation Department as a Reentry Services Coordinator, promoted to a managerial position in 2017, and was appointed the Director of the Reentry Division in 2020. In this role I managed San Francisco's Reentry Council, and designed and implemented a portfolio of 23 million dollars of reentry services. In May 2023, I was appointed the Executive Director of The Way Out, a recovery-focused homeless initiative of The Salvation Army.
PROFESSIONAL GOALS
My professional goals are to create opportunities for those who have been marginalized by the juvenile or criminal justice system by designing robust prisoner reentry programs, community-based alternatives to incarceration, and residential treatment centers for those whom the consequences of addiction, alcoholism, and incarceration has impeded their ability to succeed.
RESUME/PUBLICATIONS
JUSTICE REFORM & EQUITY
The concepts of social justice and social equity pertain to addressing the needs of the most distressed populations and entails the correction of existing disparities. The value of public policy should be assessed through the equity created in the delivery of public services. In the criminal justice system, enforcement-heavy, arrest-driven, policing has created disparities and inequities that must be rectified. To effectively deliver reentry and rehabilitative programs, we must promote models that stimulate self-sufficiency and personal accountability in the recovery process. By offering accountability-based support and opportunity to those who have been negatively impacted by the criminal justice system fosters honest individuals committed to a productive lifestyle.
