Laura Magnani served as director of AFSC’s Bay Area Healing Justice Program in California and has worked on criminal justice issues since 1971. She received her BA from the University of California in ethnic studies in 1971 and an MA from the Pacific School of Religion in 1982. She has worked on criminal justice issues for AFSC since 1989. She wrote "America's First Penitentiary: A 200 Year Old Failure in 1990" and co-authored the AFSC publication, “Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System" in 2006. She is a member of Strawberry Creek Meeting of Pacific Yearly Meeting.