Discussion Topics: prison food systems | women & incarceration | what prisons actually cost | higher education in prison | public and environmental costs of incarceration | institutional giving to amplify social impact
Travels From: New York City Area
Stacy Lyn Burnett attended undergraduate school through the Bard Prison Initiative where she studied Public Health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked for the NYC Mayor’s Situation Room as a Public Health Advisor to keep NYC public schools open. She was a 2021 BPI Public Health Fellow, where she examined the health implications of plastics in the food web.
Since 2019, she has helped dozens of formerly incarcerated women enroll in college. Today, she manages JSTOR Access in Prison where she works to increase access to knowledge and education for people in jails and prisons in both the United States and Australia. She has also worked on prison food systems and legislation to promote responsible procurement practices.
In 2023, she earned an MBA in Sustainability from Bard Graduate School with minors in Nonprofit Management and Social Entrepreneurship. With her capstone project, she won the Hunter Lovins Award. Partnering with another formerly incarcerated woman, she won the Mid-Hudson Regional Business Plan Competition for their innovative approach to re-entry. Just2Disrupt, her pilot project, has attracted grant-funding for expansion.
Stacy has testified in front of the New York State Assembly, at the White House Conference for Hunger and Nutrition, and is a frequent public speaker, commentator, and writer. Her work has been published in The Daily News, The Hechinger Report, Salon, Chronicle, and Higher Ed Dive. She is currently writing a book and her work can be followed at theprisoneconomist.com.
Published Work: The power of media literacy in prisons: TEDx Talk
