Deidre Thomas Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI)

Deidre Thomas is a paralegal at the Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI), a decarceration legal organization that uses criminal defense, civil rights litigation, policy advocacy, community power building and storytelling as tools to fight for and build the promise of dignity, autonomy, and justice. Deidre is proud to work at the PJI as a formerly incarcerated woman. During her time at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, Deidre became a self-taught Offender Council Sub /Jailhouse Lawyer, giving 25.5 years of service. She, along with other women serving life sentences who served as her role models, sought to understand and challenge incarcerated women’s convictions, sentences, and conditions of confinement. Through that process, she obtained her bachelor’s degree from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Seminary with minors in Biblical and Women’s Ministry. As part of encouraging her son to complete school, Deidre promised to remain in school until her son graduated from high school. To fulfill the pact she made with her son, Deidre obtained a Blackstone Paralegal Certificate and a Wolf Creek Business Growth Institute Certificate. Despite her son having completed high school, Deidre continues to pursue an additional degree in Social Science from Newcomb College at Tulane University.