Gale Muhammed's Full Bio

Gale Muhammad is known regionally as a mature, passionate, compassionate activist who helps the incarcerated and their families.  Many problems arise between the incarcerated and their loved ones, and Gale counsels them all.  For over 15 years, she has worked tirelessly advocating and effectively lobbying for change in the criminal justice system.  She is frequently called upon to give testimony on particular issues and legislation by State and National organizations, committees of the New Jersey Legislature, the New Jersey Department of Corrections and the New Jersey State Parole to name just a few.
Once married to a man who died in prison, Gale has countless years of experience working with both grass roots and grass top organizations throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware.  Among her areas of expertise are sentencing reform, prison health care, treatment of prisoners, parole issues, family reunification, housing and support for families.  Her heart lies in giving voice to the voiceless and working with staff to improve prison conditions.  She brings a unique perspective that combines the personal and the professional.  A licensed Real Estate Agent with Century 21, she once worked for many years in the casino industry.
Among her list of achievements are:

  1. Worked with families against mandatory minimums, helping to repeal the 1000 foot school zone.
  2. Member of the NAACP State Prison Project.
  3. Co-chair for New Jersey “Locked Up: Keys to Prison Change”, an International conference on issues of Re-entry and alternatives to prison to be held at the PA Convention Center in Philadelphia, March 30-31, 2007.  She also is involved in creating “Justice Month”, a series of events in Philadelphia highlighting the works of grass roots organization working on prison change.  She will be presenting “What About the Women?” at the conference.
  4. Member of the Planning Committee of the New Jersey Community & Correctional Working Summit.
  5. Participant in the series “Incarceration, Re-Entry & the Family” at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
  6. Former member of the Atlantic City Criminal Justice Advisory Committee.
  7. Consultant for the NJADP, New Jersey Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
  8. Volunteer for the New Jersey State Prison for HAP, Hispanic Americans for Progress and NAACP (inside groups)
  9. Member of the New York based Nu Leadership Policy Group.
  10. Consultant to numerous organizations (Pilgrimage Outreach Inc. Faith Base Church).
  11. Consultant working with Bonnie Kerness, AFSC Prison Watch based in Newark NJ.
  12. Involved with Women in Support of Million Man March – Newark NJ.
  13. Consultant to Community organizing,

Future Projects:
Gale Muhammad’s vision of what’s necessary to prevent the high rate of recidivism with those coming out of prison include workshops for families to both document the issues around re-entry and also to give human faces to those in the struggle.  In addition, she is working closely with PPRE-4 Evergreen-L3C to develop prevention programs as well as expanded services, especially housing, for those coming home from prison and their families.


Human Rights, Social Justice Issues, Human Rights Watch