Former state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed has stepped into a vacant spot on the Missouri Parole Board with the potential to be re-appointed for a longer term.
Nasheed, who served in the General Assembly from 2007-2020, was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson to sit on the seven-member board tasked with reviewing whether certain incarcerated individuals meet state requirements for parole or conditional release. The board also gathers information related to potential commutations, pardons, and more.
Nasheed said she was “honored to have been chosen to be part of the board” in a phone call with The Missouri Times Wednesday.
Nasheed’s time on the board officially is up in November, but Parson will have the option to re-appoint her. His office does not plan to release a release on the appointment until later this week.
Other members of the board include Don Phillips (chairman), Jennifer Zamkus (vice chair), Bryan Atkins, Paul Fitzwater, Brian Munzlinger, and Martin Rucker.
A venerable public servant, Nasheed is known for her penchant for both quorum calls and advocating for voting rights during her tenure in the General Assembly. She passionately advocated for legislation to restore voting rights to some 60,000 Missourians on probation or parole not convicted of a voting-related felony.
“We’re talking about individuals who wake up every morning, who go to work, who pay their taxes, and yet have no say when it comes to representation,” Nasheed said during her final year in the Senate. “In my opinion, that is taxation without representation. Enough is enough.”
She also advocated for changes to the expungement process, fought for relative caregivers to make medical and educational decisions for minors in their custody, brought awareness to the plight of sex trafficking, and championed the expansion of the A+ scholarship program to Missouri’s unaccredited school districts.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
