DANBURY, CT — Rev. Jeff Grant and Jacqueline Polverari, whose own experiences in federal prison inspired them to found societal re-entry services for other former inmates, will participate in a panel discussion about "Finding Hope and Purpose After Incarceration" at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at Western Connecticut State University.



Admission will be free and the public is invited to attend the forum in the Campus Center Ballroom on the university's Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury. Dr. George Kain, chair of the WCSU Division of Justice and Law Administration, will moderate the discussion sponsored by the university's Justice and Law Society. Grant, a former practicing lawyer who served more than a year in federal prison for a white-collar crime committed after falling prey to opioid addiction, embarked on a new career as an ordained minister with completion of a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary. With his wife Lynn Springer, he co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries of Greenwich in 2012, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing confidential pastoral support to individuals and families facing challenges ranging from inmate re-entry into society and substance use disorders to personal crisis management and mental health issues. He also has served as executive director of the Bridgeport-based criminal justice organization Family Re-entry Inc., as a minister at churches in Connecticut and New Jersey, and as a member of municipal and nonprofit organization boards dealing with criminal justice and post-incarceration re-entry issues.

Rev. Jeff Grant Grant is the editor of the popular blog, prisonist.org, and co-host of the Criminal Justice Insider podcast airing from New Haven. His confidential weekly online "White Collar/Economy Exiled Support Group" has held more than 170 meetings and attracted more than 150 participants. "Sometimes referred to in the press as the 'Minister to Hedge Funders,'" Grant's priosonist.org biography said, "he regularly uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them from making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame."

Polverari, a former title company owner who served seven months in the Danbury Federal Prison for Women during 2015 for conviction in a mortgage fraud case, has drawn from her own incarceration and re-entry experiences as motivation to research women who commit white-collar crime and correlations to underlying trauma and mental health issues. After working with several criminal justice organizations, she founded Branford-based Evolution Re-entry Services in 2018 with the goal of providing a comprehensive platform of integrated transition services for nonviolent women felons during and after their incarcerations. ERS has pursued collaborative partnerships with state and community service agencies to encourage networking and promote coordination of programs designed to support reintegration of former inmates into the community. Specific priorities include support in securing employment, housing, transportation, financial stability, proper nutrition and sound health.