The Board of Directors of West Coast Prison Justice Society is delighted to announce the appointment of Nicole Kief as Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS). Nicole joined PLS eight years ago, and has held roles including Legal Advocate, Senior Legal Advocate, Policy Director and most recently Interim Executive Director. She has been a driving force behind the expansion of legal services to address health care and human rights of people in prison and she has worked collaboratively to enhance the organization’s ability to integrate litigation and advocacy and to advance systemic, anti-carceral change. The Hiring Committee and the Board are deeply impressed with Nicole’s commitment to collaborative leadership and to ensuring that the work of PLS is impactful for clients, consistent with core values, and sustainable for staff.
We are indebted to Jennifer Metcalfe who served as Executive Director of PLS for 16 years, working tirelessly with staff and the broader prison law community to advance the rights of incarcerated people, some of the most marginalized members of our communities. During her time at PLS, the organization expanded its programs, services, and advocacy. This has involved enhancing programs under the primary mandate to provide legal services to people incarcerated in British Columbia, as well as providing leadership to support advocacy and decarceration at the national and international levels. Jen leaves a legacy at PLS of which she can be proud and one we can all build upon.
Michael Jackson K.C.
President, West Coast Prison Justice Society
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About us: West Coast Prison Justice Society is a non-profit society that operates Prisoners’ Legal Services, with support from Legal Aid BC and the Law Foundation of British Columbia. PLS provides legal assistance to people in federal and provincial prisons in British Columbia. We also engage in strategic litigation and advocacy on the prison justice issues brought forward by our clients to achieve systemic, anti-carceral change. We are a team of lawyers and non-lawyers who believe that no one is disposable, and who work alongside and in solidarity with incarcerated people. We witness some of the harshest forms of state violence and use the legal system’s tools to protect our clients from the abuses and degradations of prison.