Leo was born in Augusta, Maine. He recently graduated with a Master’s of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, with a concentration in Social Justice Advocacy and Activism from George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.  His education and work are based in trauma-informed, healing-centered Restorative Justice practices, and are focused on Social Justice Advocacy and Activism, with a vision toward an abolitionist future.  Toward that end, he is also working as a Visiting Instructor at Colby College, co-teaching AY346 – Carcerality and Abolition and the lead facilitator of Maine State Prison’s Restorative Practices Steering Committee, serve on Colby College’s Restorative Practices Team, and provide consultation to RJ practitioners in the US and abroad. He is a core organizer of the Carter School Working Group on Forgiveness and Reconciliation, creating spaces of co-learning, growth, and trauma healing in the context of forgiveness and reconciliation. Also, a columnist for the publication The Bollard (formerly Mainer), where he write a monthly column to raise public consciousness around the existence and power of humanity in carceral spaces. My education, work, and research are informed by my experience as a currently incarcerated community member in Maine State Prison. He is really looking forward to engaging in this debate as it centers a topic that I am personally invested in.