Restorative Justice

Workshop Description: In this book, he shares an 8-step framework for shifting from a street mindset to a freedom mindset and rising above your past. At the end of each chapter, Ashiantii offers reflections from the family perspective, speaking directly to loved ones, supporters, and those walking alongside someone fighting to change.

The Art of Breaking Free is not just a title, it is a testimony. It is about transforming pain into purpose, mistakes into lessons, and survival into legacy. It is proof that no matter where you come from, what you have done, or what name they used to you, freedom is possible.

This book is his truth, his confession, and his canvas for anyone who wants to improve their life, is thinking about giving up, is living in shelters, is hustling in the streets, is coming home from prison, or is carrying trauma and still daring to hope for more.

Participants can expect: Reading & Discussion, Hands-on Activity, Problem-solving, Movement, Verbal Presentation / Lecture, Writing, Debate

This workshop is offered: AM, sessions 1 & 2

Content Level: Beginner 

Speaker Bio: Before he was Corey Marionneaux, founder and CEO, people knew him as Goon.

Raised by the streets of Chicago, he chased the fast life until it cost him eight years in prison. Behind those walls, his hustle shifted.

Corey became a certified AODA counselor, led groups, and began to see that his pain, if transformed, could become purpose. That is where the vision for Black Men Coalition was born.

When he came home, Corey and his partner, Ashiantii, built Black Men Coalition from nothing but faith, grind, and a paycheck, growing it into a multimillion dollar organization changing lives through housing, employment, education, transportation, financial literacy, and youth baseball.

Workshop Description: Our workshop will encourage students to think about the similarities and differences between restorative justice practices and the criminal justice system. Elise and Abby will give a short presentation on how restorative justice can be used to address crime, followed by small group discussions where students will talk about restorative justice in practice.

Participants can expect: Discussion, Small group work, Verbal Presentation / Lecture

This workshop is offered: AM, sessions 1 & 2

Content Level: Beginner 

Speaker Bio: Elise and Abby are law students at the University of Wisconsin Law School. They are both part of the Restorative Justice Project, a clinic that facilitates restorative dialogues in the aftermath of violent and sensitive crimes.

Workshop Description: Explore the question: Can restorative justice really make a difference? 

Participants can expect: Discussion, Verbal Presentation / Lecture, Q&A

This workshop is offered: AM, sessions 1 & 2

Content Level: Intermediate 

Speaker Bio: Ismael R. Ozanne - Dane County District Attorney

Ismael Ozanne is a lifelong resident of Madison, Wisconsin. He attended St. James elementary and middle school and graduated from Madison West High School in 1989. He earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Political Science and graduated from UW Madison in 1994. While an undergrad, he played varsity soccer for the Badgers men’s soccer team, worked as an Assembly Page for the Wisconsin State Legislature, and staffed the Joint Committee on Finance. During summers, he was a tutor at Madison East High School for the Madison Metropolitan School District’s summer school program.

Ozanne received his Juris Doctorate from the UW Madison Law School in 1998. While in law school, he interned with the Legal Assistance for Institutionalized Persons (LAIP) at the Oxford Federal Prison, the Appellate Project (the start of the Innocence Project of today), and the Prosecution Project, which placed him in the Dane County District Attorney's Office.

In the summer of 1998, Ozanne was hired as an Assistant District Attorney by DA Diane Nicks. Ozanne has prosecuted cases ranging from civil traffic OWI 1st to First Degree Intentional Homicides. He handled felony and misdemeanor domestic violence cases for almost eight years before moving to a felony drug caseload. He was an executive board member for the Assistant State Prosecutor’s union (ASP), a member of the bargaining committee, and a union representative for the DA’s Office.

In February of 2008, Governor Doyle appointed Ozanne to be the Executive Assistant for the Department of Corrections (DOC), the largest cabinet agency in the state, with a budget of $1.2 billion, 10,000 employees, 20,000 adult inmates, 70,000 adults on community supervision, and wards of the juvenile system. Ozanne worked on the DOC’s budget, the DOC’s response to racial disparities, and Act 28 sentencing reforms. In July 2009, Governor Doyle appointed Ozanne to be the Deputy Secretary of the DOC, where he was in charge of daily operations.

On August 1, 2010, Governor Doyle appointed Ozanne to be the Dane County District Attorney, due to DA Blanchard being elected as a Court of Appeals judge. Notably, Ozanne is the first African American District Attorney in Wisconsin’s history.

Workshop Description: It's hard to get involved in difficult situations, especially if they involve sexual, relationship, or other interpersonal violence. But there are things we can do, individually and together, to make it easier. Learn basic bystander intervention skills and talk about how to support each other in intervening. 

Participants can expect: Discussion, Small group work, Verbal Presentation / Lecture, anonymous polls

This workshop is offered: AM, sessions 1 & 2

Content Level: Beginner 

Speaker Bio: Nola Pastor (she/her) is a Violence Prevention Program Manager at UW-Madison, where she leads trainings with student staff and organizations, supports fraternity and sorority prevention work, and advises the anti-violence student org PAVE. Nola's background is in gender and sexuality studies, domestic violence advocacy, and sexual assault prevention with high school teens. Her work is informed by her identities as a queer, neurodivergent, mentally ill femme. Outside of work, she loves making music, dancing, drinking tea, and talking astrology and witchy things.