Liz Swavola on Advocacy, Policy Change, and Shifting the Narrative Around the Incarceration of Women

Liz Swavola serves as Chief Impact Officer at the Women’s Prison Association, leading the Impact Department, which leverages storytelling, data, research, and advocacy to shift public opinion, influence criminal legal system practices and policies, and advance community-based support as an alternative to incarceration. With her team, Liz ensures that WPA’s data, resources, communications, and advocacy are cohesive and align with the organization’s impact goals and mission to make incarceration of women obsolete. 

For nearly 20 years, Liz has partnered with communities and coalitions across the country to drive transformative systems change and advance racial and gender justice. Most recently, as the Director of Public Safety Innovations at the Center for Policing Equity (CPE), Liz collaborated with Black and Brown communities, advocates, and government actors to redesign public safety. Before that, Liz was the Director of the Jail Decarceration Initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice, leading a team of researchers and policy experts to end mass incarceration at the municipal and county level. 

Below, Liz shares what drew her to WPA and her vision for the organization’s future. 

What inspired you to join WPA, and what excites you most about leading the organization into its next chapter? 

Years ago, I visited WPA after co-authoring a report about the incarceration of women. I was immediately struck by the supportive community WPA had built around women returning home from incarceration, centering dignity and agency, and knew I wanted to be part of that community. Now is an especially exciting time to join WPA as the organization leans into advocacy, policy change, and shifting the narrative from punishment to healing. 

How have you seen data and storytelling shift perspectives and make an impact on policy change? 

Data and storytelling can make a powerful pair in campaigns to change harmful policies. Data shows just how pervasive a problem, like mass incarceration and criminalization, is and reveal the depth of disparities, while also demonstrating where change is possible and the potential impact. Centering experiences and expertise of directly impacted people in that evidence ensures that the right questions are asked and answered. Some people are moved by data, and some by stories, and offering both gives the fullest picture of a problem and how to tackle it. 

Where do you see the greatest opportunities for WPA to expand its impact? 

Right now, in New York City, there is unprecedented opportunity to reimagine the local criminal legal system—with the movement to close Rikers and the Rose M. Singer Center, the women’s facility on Rikers, and an administration supportive of decarceration. As an organization with a long history of providing and advocating for community-based supports for women who are enmeshed in the system, WPA is well-positioned to be a movement leader and partner—and other communities across the state and country are watching and taking notes. 

What gives you hope about the future of this work? 

The fact that the work to make women’s incarceration obsolete is increasingly led by formerly incarcerated women gives me hope that the movement will go in the right direction and with the urgency it deserves. Their leadership, expertise, and drive to shine a light on the devastation incarceration and criminalization have caused at every level is grabbing policymakers’ attention and forcing system actors to rethink their punitive approaches.