Mamdani taps activist with incarceration history for transition team role, reflecting emerging model of centering justice-impacted voices
Activism from the Foundation of Lived Experience
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani appointed Mysonne Linen to his transition team’s criminal legal system committee, positioning a Bronx activist and gun violence prevention advocate with direct experience of the carceral system in a key advisory role. Linen, who spent seven years incarcerated for armed robbery in the late 1990s, co-leads the advocacy organization Until Freedom, which focuses on gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform.
Lived Experience as Qualification
Linen’s appointment reflects an emerging movement valuing incarceration survivors’ expertise in designing justice systems. Rather than excluding people with criminal histories from policy-making roles, Mamdani’s transition team centers exactly such voices in deliberation about public safety transformation. Linen’s particular trajectoryfrom incarceration to activismprovides credibility in communities affected by both gun violence and overpolicing.
The appointment of approximately 400 transition team members across 17 committees signals Mamdani’s commitment to incorporating diverse expertise. According to the mayor-elect, these team members bring fluency with city policies, knowledge of successes and failures, and collective experience necessary for building a city serving everyone. Linen’s role suggests that experience of punishment itself constitutes necessary knowledge for justice system redesign.
Until Freedom’s Mission and Impact
Under Linen’s co-leadership, Until Freedom has organized extensively around gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform. The organization conducts community marches, business accountability campaigns, and grassroots organizing in neighborhoods most affected by violence and incarceration. Linen’s work bridges gun violence concernsa priority shared across many communitieswith broader criminal justice transformation, suggesting possibilities for coalition-building around public safety.
News 12’s coverage of Linen’s work documented his participation in Father’s Day marches against gun violence in the Bronx and campaigns holding local businesses accountable for supporting violence reduction efforts. This work demonstrates capacity to organize community members, engage institutions, and build accountability mechanisms outside traditional police frameworks.
Policy Implications and Debate
Linen’s appointment will likely draw scrutiny from critics who question whether people with criminal records should advise on public safety. Mamdani’s framing emphasizes that Linen brings perspectives and expertise unavailable to people without incarceration experience, particularly regarding system transformation and community trust-building. This reflects progressive criminal justice ideology positioning system-impacted people as essential voices in reimagining governance.
The appointment also sends symbolic message to incarceration survivors and system-impacted communities that Mamdani administration values their expertise. In city with hundreds of thousands affected by mass incarceration, centering those voices in policy-making constitutes significant shift in how government traditionally operates.
The Broader Transition Team Context
Linen’s appointment occurs alongside other transition team decisions indicating serious commitment to criminal justice transformation. The Committee on Community Safety and Committee on the Criminal Legal System both include figures dedicated to dramatic police reduction and carceral system abolition. Collectively, these choices suggest Mamdani intends to implement campaign promises rather than moderate positions upon taking office.
Questions remain about whether such visionary appointments will face resistance from political opponents, police unions, or constituencies prioritizing traditional public safety approaches. The months ahead will reveal whether transition team expertise translates into implemented policy or whether political pragmatism moderates the administration’s approach to public safety transformation.
