S1E3 - Where You're From Doesn't Dictate Who You Are: Rondo Bonilla's Story
Conversations with Young Justice LeadersShow Notes
Episode Notes
In this third episode of Conversations with Young Justice Leaders, Anoushka Sinha interviews Michael "Rondo" Bonilla, co-chair of the Future Shapers Council at Reform Alliance and Gen Z justice organizer.
Rondo discusses his transformative journey from spending 19.5 months at Rikers Island as a teenager to becoming a national voice for criminal justice reform. He explains how justice work "chose him" through programs like Fatherless No More and ThreeSixty while incarcerated, and how speaking at Michael Rubin's house in front of influencers made his work personal. Rondo emphasizes that a great majority of crimes stem from poverty and that young people need rehabilitation before incarceration, not after. The conversation covers the reality of technical violations that send 200,000-300,000 people back to jail yearly for non-criminal infractions, the importance of personal time to avoid burnout, and his vision for dismantling the $300 billion mass incarceration system. Rondo shares powerful advice for young leaders: "Do work you would do for free: that's how you know you're passion-driven."
Find the transcript below.
Links to initiatives mentioned in the episode:
Learn more about Reform Alliance
Learn about the Future Shapers Advisory Council
Get involved in the 2026 Gen Z Week of Action
Learn about the Safer Supervision Act
Connect with Rondo's work: [email protected]
This podcast is a project of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies at the NYU Center on International Cooperation. This episode was produced by Leah Guyot, and editorial support was provided by Thibault Chareton, Symphony Chau, and Catherine Wang. Read transcript
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Episode 1 of Conversations with Young Justice Leaders is coming in May 2025.