A Conversation with RBIJ’s Lena Patel

Can you tell us about your new role at RBIJ?

I am RBIJ’s Chief External Affairs Officer, which means I am part of the Senior Leadership Team and am deputized for the co-CEO’s where appropriate. It’s an exciting role because I get to work even more closely with our team and help support RBIJ’s strategic plan and goals, as well as continuing and developing our engagement with external stakeholders – including businesses, campaign organizations, and government bodies. I also lead some of RBIJ’s flagship projects, including the American Workforce and Justice Summit and the Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty campaign.

What do you see as the role of businesses in driving criminal justice reform?

Businesses have a huge role to play in helping to make change in justice systems. They have powerful voices and platforms – and when their leaders talk, policymakers listen. 

Companies, whether local, national, or international, also do more than provide jobs. Their employees work and live in communities that are directly impacted by the issues we work on. Corporate leaders have a responsibility to support those employees and improve those communities. Whether internally by changing hiring practices, or externally by providing advocacy and supporting reform, businesses are vital agents of change. 

You’ve been with RBIJ for a few years — how have you seen business engagement change during that time?

Although we are still a young organization, I guess I am an “old timer” at RBIJ, and I have really seen our work grow and develop over the years. We started off mapping and exploring which businesses might be interested in criminal justice reform, and figuring out how we can frame our work to message it effectively for companies. Early on in my role, we were fortunate to be an organizational partner for a private screening of the film Just Mercy. We realized very quickly that this would be a great way to both tell the story of the stark unfairness in the criminal justice system, and highlight the role of RBIJ and the business community in creating change. We had 40 businesses attend that event – almost four years later, our network has grown to over 500. 

Our USP? We make the most of every opportunity, and we take our time to make sure we understand the needs of both the companies we work with and our campaign partners. 

Can you share a little bit about the work RBIJ is currently doing in the UK?

I am really excited about our work in the UK! We did a little bit of work here at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, asking the government to release vulnerable people reaching the end of their sentences. It was a very successful effort, and we gathered a lot of business support.

Last year, we were approached by our colleagues working on FairChecks, a campaign calling for a fairer system of how criminal records are checked. They had seen the success of our work on Clean Slate in the U.S., and wanted us to work with them to engage business support. We hosted two very successful roundtables to gauge interest from the corporate community – and we realized there was a lot! We are now taking it one step further and organizing a reception in Parliament, where we will bring together employers and policymakers to put a spotlight on the issue and emphasize its importance for the workforce. 

What inspired you to get involved in the fight for fair and equal justice systems?

I have always been involved in equality and fairness in some way or another. From a personal perspective, my parents came to the UK after leaving Uganda under Idi Amin and had to face the challenges of settling into a new country as immigrants. My mum used to work for Leicestershire Racism and Awareness Consortium, and I would often go with her to work, so I  saw the issues she would deal with daily.

My dissertation during my Master’s degree was on the abolition of the death penalty. I also spent the early part of my career working for the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), a government quango whose main purpose was to ensure racial equality existed in all aspects of UK society. When the role at RBIJ came up, it seemed the perfect way to bring together both my career experience working in corporate affairs (which I have done for over 25 years) and my passion and personal experience of fairness, equality and inclusion.

People with criminal records are often the most vulnerable and forgotten-about group, and they face challenges across so many aspects of their lives: from employment, to travel, to housing. These burdens are also unfairly and disproportionately felt by people of colour. Our criminal justice system is not working and I am passionate about working with others to figure out how we can help fix it.

You’ve served in a number of roles across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors — what are you proudest of? 

Whilst my career has spanned a wide variety of sectors and organizations, the thread has been working and engaging businesses. Within that, there are so many things I am proud of. I am very proud of landing the job at the CRE as Policy Officer for the Private Sector – it proved very lucky because that role shaped the rest of my career. During my time as Manager, Private Sector at the Greater London Authority (GLA), I worked on a breadth of issues, ranging from congestion charging, to the Olympics, to the importance of minority-owned businesses to London’s economy. My job at Nesta allowed me to really understand the power of social innovation and how we can challenge the status quo, and I was part of a team that delivered the amazing FutureFest Festival, bringing radical, immersive ideas and experiences to people. 

However (and I know this sounds very cliché), at RBIJ I feel I am really making a difference. It’s hard and challenging, but we have an incredible team with a “we can do it” mentality. I am so proud of how we work together and the issues we work on.

If you could change one aspect of the justice system, what would it be?

That’s a really difficult question, because the system is just not working. Aside from having a magic wand and being able to rebuild it completely, I would change the narrative that exists around criminal justice and incarceration. So many people are impacted so hugely that, for many, they simply cannot move on. If we took away that stigma, stopped defining people by their records, and started to take the time to understand why someone might have ended up incarcerated, I think we could start to reduce crime levels and live in a fairer, more inclusive society.

When you aren’t working, what else do you enjoy doing?

I am very fortunate to have a very close family – and I really enjoy spending time with them! I am currently trying to document my parents’ history in East Africa and my plan is to take my children and parents there this summer, so we can see and experience our family history first-hand.

I also love sports and am a keen runner. I try to run 4-5 times a week and have reached 200 Park Runs! My goal is to get to 250 by the end of this year!

What’s a fact about you that would surprise people?

I used to be a really good classical Indian dancer. I studied Kathak for about five years and was always top of my class! I still love to dance and as soon as the Bhangra track ‘Mundian To Bach Ke’ comes on, I am the first to hit the dance floor!