FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 1, 2025

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teamfamm@mrss.com

FAMM Announces Shanna Rifkin As New General Counsel;

Mary Price Transitions to Senior Counsel

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today FAMM (formerly known as Families Against Mandatory Minimums) announced two exciting staff transitions on its leadership team. Starting today, Tuesday, July 1, Shanna Rifkin, who has served as FAMM’s deputy general counsel, will lead as general counsel, while outgoing General Counsel, Mary Price, will assume the newly established role of senior counsel.

“These two expanded roles will strengthen FAMM’s capacity to serve as a leading catalyst for reforming the criminal justice system at both the federal and state levels,” said Dr. Shaneva D. McReynolds, president of FAMM. 

“The transition will help FAMM identify and dismantle more barriers that prevent debilitated, elderly, and terminally ill individuals from securing release from prison. It will also help ensure that people in prison are treated with dignity during their time in custody. Shanna’s stewardship of our amicus advocacy has ensured FAMM’s voice and the interests of our members are heard in key precedent-setting sentencing cases that come before the Supreme Court. Mary’s decades-long commitment has created groundbreaking change at the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Congress, and state legislatures and agencies. I applaud and thank Shanna and Mary for their bold vision and unwavering commitment to build a more fair and just criminal justice system.”

In Rifkin’s nearly four years with FAMM, she has pioneered major federal Compassionate Release Clearinghouse initiatives including the Dublin Project, where she secured release from prison of people who survived sexual abuse in the federal BOP. Her innovative work led the USSC to ensure such survivors are eligible for compassionate release criterion for sexual abuse survivors. Shanna has also provided leadership that helped ensure that people serving sentences that can no longer be imposed have an avenue to compassionate release. Her legal work has been published by the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law and others, and she routinely represents FAMM in the media, including with outlets such as NPR, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and Bolts magazine.

Price led FAMM’s Office of General Counsel for 25 years. She has advocated for sentencing reform and second chances avenues – such as retroactivity and compassionate release – at the USSC, the federal BOP, Congress, and state legislatures and agencies.  

Price’s writing and research on federal and state compassionate release programs and practices has helped everyone from incarcerated individuals to lawmakers understand, use, and reform them. Her work includes: Everywhere and Nowhere: Compassionate Release in the States, and Grading the States: The State Compassionate Release Report Card Project, as well as research memos and report cards on every state program, and a toolkit for policy makers and stakeholders who wish to improve their state’s release programs. 

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FAMM is a national nonpartisan advocacy organization that promotes fair and effective criminal justice policies that safely reduce incarceration, save taxpayer dollars, and keep families together. Founded in 1991, FAMM has secured bold sentencing and prison reform across the country while elevating the voices of directly impacted individuals and families.

The post FAMM Announces Shanna Rifkin As New General Counsel; Mary Price Transitions to Senior Counsel first appeared on Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation.