About me
Samantha (Sam) Bhatia has been with Poetic Justice since 2022 as a class facilitator, while attending SDSU full time, and working as an investigations intern with the San Diego Public Defender. Sam graduated with degrees in Criminal Justice and Psychology, and soon after took on the additional role of assistant to the Poetic Justice Program Manager. As someone who grew up in a system-impacted community with incarcerated family members, Sam sees her leadership role at Poetic Justice as critical to the work they do to address community harm caused by the carceral system. Sam took on the role of Operations Manager in January 2024 and has since then continued to build a team that reflects the diverse world we live in, while providing paid opportunities to other system-impacted individuals who would otherwise not be able to do this work. Sam’s role at Poetic Justice has shed light on the truth about providing jobs to formerly incarcerated individuals: they would not otherwise be able to provide their skills and experiences as facilitators due to family obligations, working multiple jobs, and coming from communities with limited resources and access.