ML Smith

ML Smith is the founder and Executive Director of the Missouri Justice Coalition (MoJustice), an organization dedicated to serving as a unifying force across the state of Missouri, bringing together individuals impacted by the criminal punishment system to drive meaningful reforms within the Missouri prison system – addressing the systemic injustices, inhumane conditions, and the absence of accountability. 

She is an advocate, abolitionist, and organizer who is intimately aware of the dire realities faced by imprisoned populations, as well as the egregious actions and apathy of institutional actors. As a Black, disabled, system-impacted woman who has experienced generational poverty, she grounds her ideological framework in advocating for those suffering and struggling within a society designed to oppress, marginalize, and dehumanize targeted and vulnerable communities. 

ML’s advocacy efforts span all facets of mass incarceration, including innocence, legislation, decarceration, humane carceral conditions, and the death penalty. She is proud to have become a “jailhouse lawyer” assisting women who didn’t believe they had a voice or rights to defend. ML  consults and partners with several local and national organizations and previously served as co-director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty.