Gabriella Priest Celestin is a Senior Associate at Justice System Partners.  Gabriella works with community corrections agencies to improve practices through the National Institute of Corrections Organizational Resource Development project in three states, with Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice Supervision Reform project, and the Community Supervision Leadership Learning Lab virtual training academy with the National Institute of Corrections. Gabriella also manages JSP’s Coaching Network for Change (CNC) –  an interactive virtual community of practice for community corrections organizations implementing the coaching model.

For nearly two decades, Gabriella has worked tirelessly to improve the criminal legal system, partnering with practitioners, policymakers, academics, and impacted individuals and their families in research and evidenced-based practices for equitable reform and services. Prior to joining JSP, Gabriella was the Program Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management (PCJ) and serves on the PCJ’s Roundtable on Reducing Racial Disparities in Massachusetts Criminal Courts. Previously, Gabriella worked for 11 years at the nonprofit Community Resources for Justice (CRJ). As CRJ’s Director of Innovation, Implementation, and Development, she was responsible for oversight of its Massachusetts community-based reentry programs for returning citizens and its Social Justice Services (SJS) training academy. Through CRJ’s Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) division, Gabriella led youth and adult justice system policy reform and implementation efforts in several states– Georgia, Utah, Kansas, Oregon, West Virginia, and Kentucky– as part of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. These reforms improved outcomes, reduced prison and juvenile system populations, and averted over $700 million in projected state costs.

Gabriella is an adjunct faculty member at Suffolk University, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on crime and justice. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Criminology in 2006 and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice in 2009 from Suffolk University. Gabriella is on the Board of Directors of the International Community Justice Association (ICJA) and in 2019 received the Inaugural “Emerging Leader” award from ICJA.