Jessica Simes

Simes' research focuses on how the growth in imprisonment over the last 30 years affected community life in the United States. Her work examines geographic disparities in imprisonment, the growth and effects of solitary confinement, and the role of anti-immigrant sentiment in support for punitive immigration policies and harsher sentencing outcomes for non-citizens. She serves as Secretary for Thrive Communities, a Massachusetts prisoner reentry program, and has worked for the City of Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Correction as a research fellow.