TCJC Team

ANA YÁÑEZ-CORREA, PH.D.

Executive Director
acorrea@TexasCJC.org

Ana Yáñez-Correa was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States at the age of 12, where she worked as a domestic worker with her mother until she entered college. She has earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration; she also holds a Ph.D. in Policy and Planning in Education Administration, focusing her dissertation on the school-to-prison pipeline. Throughout every stage of her education and career, Ana has taken an active leadership role in the community. She served as Chief of Staff for a State Representative during the State Legislative Session in 2001 and focused on criminal justice-related policies. In 2002, Ana became Policy Director for LULAC of Texas, where she developed and advocated for LULAC’s legislative platform during the 2003 State Legislative Session. In 2005, Ana became the Project Director for TCJC’s Solutions for Sentencing & Incarceration Project, which focuses on promoting proven, pro-family criminal justice policies that save taxpayers money and improve the safety of Texas communities. During the 2007 state legislative session, Ana was formally honored by the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate for “working toward real solutions to the problems facing the Texas criminal justice system.” During Texas’ 2009 and 2011 legislative sessions, Ana was instrumental in educating and organizing key stakeholders about the importance of adopting policies on fair defense, prison diversion, probation and parole reform, reentry, and overall criminal and juvenile justice efficiency. Since late 2005, Ana has been the Executive Director of TCJC, successfully fostering relationships among a wide range of coalition partners, criminal justice practitioners, law enforcement groups, civil rights organizations, and other community members, allowing TCJC to promote policies that serve all facets of society.

LEAH PINNEY

Finance and Operations Director; Policy Analyst
lpinney@TexasCJC.org

Leah Pinney is a graduate of St. Edward’s University, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science with honors. Leah has worked with the TCJC team for several years and in various capacities, but she officially joined the organization in 2007. Leah brings work experience from both corporate and nonprofit sectors, including work involving project research for a national civil rights organization. On joining TCJC, Leah supported our youth project, where, through research efforts, she helped to advocate for increased safety and accountability within the Texas Youth Commission. Leah later shifted her focus to pretrial and defense, where she continues to work with key partners to promote best practices and policies that ensure opportunities for indigent defendants to receive timely and well-qualified counsel. In recent years, Leah also began supporting TCJC as an organizational and financial manager. Leah has background experience in banking and capably handles TCJC’s bookkeeping, financial reports, and organizational records, as well as providing human resource functions for staff, work-study students, interns, and volunteers.

MOLLY TOTMAN, J.D.

Senior Policy Analyst
mtotman@TexasCJC.org

Molly Totman graduated with honors from the University of Texas in 2000, where she earned a B.A. in English. In 2003, she graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a concentration in racial studies. She passed the Texas Bar Exam later that year and began an internship with TCJC in November 2003, during which time she also worked as a Researcher for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Austin. Molly was hired by TCJC in March 2004 and went on to become TCJC’s Public Safety Project Director, where she served as the sole statewide repository and analyst of required, annual racial profiling reports from Texas law enforcement agencies from 2004 to 2008. She also assisted agencies in understanding their data, streamlining their reporting practices, and improving the way they protect the public through the implementation and institutionalization of needed policy changes. Ultimately, Molly was the chief contributor to the production of four comprehensive racial profiling reports on behalf of TCJC. Currently, Molly serves as TCJC’s Senior Policy Analyst; she contributes heavily both as a researcher and an editor during the production stages of various TCJC policy guides, manuals, and educational materials published by all of TCJC’s projects.

BENET MAGNUSON, J.D.

Policy Attorney, Solutions for Youth Justice
bmagnuson@TexasCJC.org

Benet Magnuson graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where he received an A.B. in Classics Greek and English. He went on to receive a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he also worked as a negotiation consultant and instructor. Benet has significant experience in Texas justice system reforms as a past staff attorney for the Texas Access to Justice Commission. He also currently serves as an instructor of negotiation and financial literacy in juvenile and adult detention facilities in Texas, an on-the-ground experience that guides his policy and outreach work at TCJC. As an Policy Attorney for TCJC’s Solutions for Youth Justice project, Benet works with all stakeholders in the Texas juvenile justice system – families, youths, officers, and advocates – to support the development of consistent, effective juvenile justice services and policies. Benet is a certified mediator and a member of the Texas State Bar, and he serves as a tutor for youth who have dropped out of high school.

JENNIFER CARREON, M.S.C.J.

Policy Researcher, Solutions for Youth Justice
jcarreon@TexasCJC.org

Jennifer Carreon graduated with honors from Texas State University in 2007, where she earned a B.S. in Criminal Justice. She continued her education, earning an M.S.C.J. from Texas State University in 2009. During her post-graduate studies, Jennifer was the recipient of various awards, including Applied Arts Graduate Award [Fall 2007], College of Applied Arts Fellowship Award [Fall 2008], and Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year: Department of Criminal Justice [Spring 2009]. Pursuing her passion for research, Jennifer remains in academia as an adjunct professor for her alma mater and has taught courses in Forensic Evidence, Cybercrime, Crime Theory, and Juvenile Justice. In 2011, Jennifer joined TCJC, working to address issues currently facing the Texas juvenile justice system. Jennifer has focused her research in a multitude of areas that lend perfectly to TCJC’s Solutions for Youth Justice project, including the development of juveniles and its impact on delinquency, comparative juvenile justice systems across the globe, gender disparities among juvenile delinquents, treatment versus punishment, and the need for a national juvenile justice evaluation center.

TRAVIS LEETE, J.D.

Policy Attorney
tleete@TexasCJC.org

Travis Leete graduated from UCLA with a degree in The Study of Religion and later earned a Master’s Degree at Yale Divinity School. A commitment to improving the lives of others was inspired by his parents at an early age; his father spent his career working for the California Department of Rehabilitation, fighting for disability rights. Sharing this passion to serve, Travis ventured on to law school in Sacramento, California, graduating from the University of the Pacific in 2009. While in law school, Travis worked for a Public Defender and had an opportunity to volunteer in New Orleans, aiding inmates who had been seriously impacted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The efforts in New Orleans led to the dismissal of charges and release of a detainee accused of second-degree murder. After publishing a policy review on a California proposition designed to alter, among other things, the State’s Penal Code, Travis became interested in criminal justice advocacy through policy improvement. After working with the Texas Civil Rights Project, Travis joined TCJC as a Policy Attorney. Travis works primarily on legislative issues that will impact the criminal justice system in Texas, and he feels lucky to work with an admirable group of human rights advocates. Travis is currently a member of the California and Texas State Bars.

JORGE ANTONIO RENAUD, M.S.S.W.

Policy Analyst
jrenaud@TexasCJC.org

Jorge Antonio Renaud graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012 with an M.S.S.W.  He has written extensively about the nexus of minority issues and criminal justice in essays for various journals and op-eds for the Hispanic Link Weekly Report.  Jorge is also the author of Behind the walls: A guide for families and friends of Texas prison inmates.  He is a frequent guest lecturer on conditions of confinement at both the University of Texas School of Education and the LBJ School of Public Affairs.  His interest in criminal justice extends to juvenile justice, and he has facilitated creative writing workshops for at-risk youth as a member of Save Our Youth, and for youth in detention facilities and those certified as adults and incarcerated in the Texas prison system as a member of Sending Solidarity.  He is on the board of the Texas Jail Project, as well as a proud member of the Texas Inmate Family Association and of the volunteer cadre at the Inside Books Project, which sends literature to Texas prisoners.  As a TCJC Policy Analyst, Jorge is critical to the research and development of various administrative and legislative policies at both the state and county levels, with a special emphasis on the adult system. Jorge also facilitates TCJC’s inmate correspondence program, addressing concerns and requests for information by inmates and their family members.  His work is driven by the belief that American incarceration policies are too punitive and costly, both to human dignity and to limited economic resources, leading to practices that devastate generations and communities.

CAITLIN DUNKLEE

Policy Analyst
cdunklee@TexasCJC.org

Caitlin Dunklee graduated with honors from the City University of New York's Hunter College in 2006, where she earned a B.A. in Urban Affairs.  She is currently pursuing her graduate degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.  Caitlin first served as an intern for TCJC, conducting research and producing reports on probation program funding, drug treatment, and prison diversions; she is now a Policy Analyst focusing on reducing incarceration in Texas.  Caitlin's interest in prison justice was piqued while volunteering in an Ecuadorian women's prison, where she taught sex education workshops and supported incarcerated women in their efforts to improve conditions of confinement.  Caitlin also worked closely with New York’s Coalition for Women Prisoners and was a case manager for young men returning home from prison and jail.  Caitlin served as associate director of the Correctional Association of New York’s Public Policy Project, where she directed the Drop the Rock Campaign to repeal the harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws, and she was recognized as Community Activist of the Year in 2009.  Before joining TCJC, Caitlin worked for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, where she supported the efforts of the National PREA Resource Center and conducted research on the realignment of California’s criminal justice system.

JANNELL ROBLES

Policy Analyst, Harris County Criminal Justice Project
jrobles@TexasCJC.org

Jannell Robles received her B.A. in Anthropology with a minor in Mexican American Studies in 2009 from the University of North Texas, where she was recognized for her leadership as an undergraduate and honored as the first recipient of the James Carl Matthews Award in 2008. Upon graduating from college, Jannell pursued her passion for human rights by working with community-based groups in Houston, including a grassroots coalition for immigrant rights, Houston United. In 2010, Jannell interned with the Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center as an organizer for the Build A Better Texas campaign to improve the harsh working conditions for Texas Construction Workers; the campaign resulted in the successful passage of a law against wage theft in the Texas Legislature. Shortly after, Jannell became the Youth Organizer for the Central American Resource Center, where she advocated for the rights of immigrant youth and immigrant truck drivers. In 2011, Jannell became the Immigrant Rights Outreach Coordinator for MALDEF, helping to prevent over 80 anti-immigrant proposals, including Arizona SB 1070 copycat bills, from being passed during Texas’ 82nd Legislative Session. Beginning in late 2011, Jannell served as the lead staff member of the Harris County Reconciliation Project team, aimed at reconciling African American and Immigrant communities of Houston while simultaneously advocating for solutions to criminal justice, juvenile justice, and immigration practices that overwhelmingly impact these communities. Currently, Jannell leads TCJC’s criminal justice advocacy work in Harris County. Her future plans include attending law school and graduate school, yet maintaining a commitment to community organizing, political engagement, and human rights advocacy.