At the close of almost 25 years of winding through New York state's prisons, former Black Panther Eddie Ellis walked away in 1994 with four college degrees he earned while incarcerated and kept treading his singular path as an activist on the issues of police, courts, crime and punishment. He then established the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions of which he is now the executive director. NuLeadership is the only think tank of its kind devoted to analyzing and helping rejigger a variegated U.S. system of justice and is staffed full time almost entirely by ex-prisoner researchers. Equally to the point, they are helping shape policies surrounding the re-entry of ex-prisoners into nonprison life. Annually, roughly 700,000 people across the country are returning to their home communities of mainly minorities and poor people. This article discusses the lobbying efforts of NuLeadership for ex-prisoners to have some say in the methods and mechanisms--from mental health counseling to jobs, education and housing programs--involved in that return. Glenn Martin, vice president for development and director of the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy at the Fortune Society, stated that when criminal justice policymaking happens, it's important that the formerly incarcerated are an essential part of the discussion.