The first formerly incarcerated person ever elected to the Nevada Legislature, Assemblymember Jovan Jackson, joins us on Prison the Hidden Sentence. From serving time in prison to serving his community in the State Assembly, Jovan’s journey is one of resilience, redemption, and purpose. He opens up about how his lived experience fuels his fight for criminal justice reform, restoring voting rights, and expanding opportunities for families impacted by incarceration. This inspiring conversation highlights how one man transformed his past into a platform for change—and why his historic election brings hope to communities in Nevada and beyond.
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Listen to the podcast here
Nevada’s First: Jovan Jackson From Incarceration To Legislation
Welcome to Prison: The Hidden Sentence, where we raise awareness one story at a time. I’m your host, Julia Lazareck, advocate, author, and fellow traveler on this path. I’m the author of the Prison: The Hidden Sentence™: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE IS ARRESTED AND INCARCERATED, and that could be purchased on Amazon.
I’m honored to introduce Nevada Assembly member Jovan Jackson, who made history as the first formerly incarcerated person ever elected to the Nevada legislature. Born and raised in North Las Vegas. Jovan’s early success as a business owner and mental health advocate was followed by his personal struggles and a conviction in 2016. After his release in 2018, he transformed his life, becoming a community organizer.
Passing key legislation like AB431 that restores voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals and founding programs to support those affected by the justice system. Now this legislation also motivated him and enabled him to run for a political position. After winning his assembly seat in 2024, Jovan represents District 6 and serves on the Government Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Natural Resources Committees. We’ll explore how his lived experience fuels his mission to reform criminal justice, expand housing access, and uplift communities.
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Jovan, thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you for having me. It’s great to be in this space, and it’s great to be around individuals who are advocating for good work and uplifting stories of impacted folks.
Overcoming Adversity: Childhood Trauma & Substance Abuse
I’m just so happy you’re here. Some of the things we discussed were about your upbringing, challenges that were part of the reason for your incarceration, how you survived and thrived after incarceration, and everything that you’re doing now. I’m so excited to hear more. Let’s start with your upbringing in North Las Vegas, and that’s here in Nevada.
I was born and raised in North Las Vegas. I was born in 1992. That was an era where we saw a lot of communities being impacted by, I say, mass incarceration, drugs, and it was hard growing up in our city, in those communities. I want to say I did carry a lot of childhood trauma into my adult life. We eventually moved out of the inner city.
We moved out of North Las Vegas when my brother was stabbed, and we moved to the suburbs to escape that type of lifestyle with gangs and drugs. We moved to the suburbs when I was just about turning ten, not too far from North Town. I got to see the difference between inner city and suburban living, the contrast, and the different opportunities that I had in the suburbs. I was very active in karate. I ended up attending a Magnet High School, Desert Pines High School, located in the inner city of the Northeast area.
I will say, the most traumatic thing that happened to me in high school was my other brother passing away in a car accident when I was sixteen. From that age, I fell into substance abuse, marijuana, smoking, just the regular things. I was able to overcome that. I graduated from high school in 2010. Not to get too far into my adulthood, I have a very diverse family. I’m the youngest of five. My mother is from New York, and my dad is from Louisiana. We had a very structured household, but a very different household. I have all half-brothers and sisters. That was something unique about my upbringing.
When you say that you lost a sibling, I just want to go back to that and that you did move on. However, losing a sibling is traumatic, and especially at sixteen, I know that when I was in high school, a friend lost her brother, and it wasn’t until she was the same age as him that she started reacting. I wonder if it was at sixteen that you started getting involved in other things?
I was 16 when he passed away. He was 26 when he passed away. When I got to the age of 26, I realized that my brother didn’t live a long life. When you’re sixteen and you think of someone who’s 30, you’re like, “They’re old.” When you get that age, you realize how fast life comes up on you. I’m 33 now, and I realize a lot, because I still smoke marijuana, but I realized just at 32 that my smoking is still me coping with the trauma of losing my brother when I was sixteen.
That has shifted my thinking about marijuana. Those childhood traumas do follow you. I see it a lot with folks in their mid-twenties. It’s like all your childhood trauma just hits you all at once. Now you have full-blown depression, or you’re schizo, or you have anxiety. These are the things that people are facing on a daily basis, like their childhood trauma is just catching up to them, and it’s hitting them all at once.
Mental Health Journey: From Professional To Personal Experience
I just want to say that marijuana is legal here in Nevada. I just want to point that out. Let’s talk a little bit about mental illness because that’s something that you’ve experienced and also advocate for for other people.
Mental illness. Oddly, when I got out of high school, my first career was in mental health care. I was a rehabilitative worker, working with people who are low-income and have disability. I was very good at it. I always asked myself, what was my talent growing up? I wasn’t like a musician or an artist. I realized my talent was helping people and caring about people. I realized that that’s a big deal. Not everyone could do it naturally, and it doesn’t come out naturally.
When I was a teenager, I realized I was really good at this type of work. I ended up starting my first business as a teenager. I invested, and I dropped out of college. I was a UNLV student. I dropped out of college, and I went to my mom, and she invested in my business, and we opened up a mental health facility where we provided therapy and rehabilitative services. I will say that at that age, I didn’t really have a true understanding of mental health disorders.
When you lack those live experiences, you don’t understand how severe depression is. When you never experience it, it’s just a term on a piece of paper. I provided mental health care services for years. In my mid-early twenties, I started to have my own mental health problems because of more substance abuse. That right there really changed my perspective on mental health and how severe it is and how real it is.
You don't understand how severe depression is when you’ve never experienced it; it's just a term on a piece of paper. Share on XOften, we discredit mental health because we cannot physically see it, but no, it’s a physical sickness that impacts the brain, impacts the mind. It wasn’t until I went through my own life struggles that I became more passionate about helping people get over their mental health problems. Always been passionate about helping people. When I went through it myself, I was like, “It took me to see one person to overcome depression for me to get over my depression.” I have made it a main focus to share my story and continue my path in mental health care.
We were talking about it, it’s true when you have something happen to you, you can become what we say, a victim or a hero. You can do something with it, and you’re taking the hero route, where you went through something and you’re helping others. However, when we discussed it earlier, some of what you were going through led to your incarceration.
We don’t need to talk about what you were incarcerated for. Again, I don’t think that’s as important as what the experience was when you went through that. Also, I’m thinking how helpful you probably were making an assumption here to people who were incarcerated and helping them. If we could talk about what it was like getting into prison, things that you did, and then we’ll talk about how it changed your life.
Incarceration & Redemption: Finding Purpose In The Justice System
The jail system is the biggest mental health rehab in Clark County, Nevada. I say that because it was the jail system where I was able to get treatment. It was the jail system where I was able to get solitude and the daily medication that I needed to stabilize. You know what, this was all free. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have a facility or a place like that where people could go in, check in their cells for 3 to 6 months, and get the mental health care they need.
Instead, these same individuals, like myself, have a mental health problem, and it’s deemed criminal. You commit a crime, and now you’re in jail. I wish there were a preventive step because I want to say the jail system and the prison system really helped me rehabilitate and helped me find purpose again, and helped me have a clear mind. I want to say that the first six months of my incarceration it was mainly solitude, but it was exactly what I needed at the time.
I was delusional. I wasn’t in the right state of mind. This really brought me back to ground level. After those six months of being in solitude, I was able to work on my social skills and interact with more incarcerated people. At this time, I would say I was actually moved into the prisons, and fortunately, I was categorized directly into a fire camp. I didn’t spend much time in the yard.
I was able to go to a fire camp where I could get work programming and that really helped my self-esteem and that really helped my purpose, going out in the community each day, fighting fires. Putting up a fence, fixing highways. That really brought my self-purpose again and my driven purpose. It was through the jail and prison system. I would say, like me, going through all those stages of having mental health problems, from psychotic to depressed, there was a point in time where I couldn’t even speak.
I couldn’t speak for months out of time. When people hear that story, they see who I am today. It does give them an idea that anything could have a story of redemption. We all can overcome the odds, and that just one mistake doesn’t really determine our whole trajectory of life. While I’m here, I’m motivated, inspired, and just keep moving forward. I carry that when I talk to other folks who have similar backgrounds to mine.
One mistake doesn't determine our whole life's trajectory. Share on XPost-Release Activism: Restoring Rights And Empowering Communities
I really appreciate you sharing that. Your story gives us hope. It gives our families hope because, like you said, there is redemption. Through the Prison Families Alliance, which is a support group, we have a lot of family members who are concerned about their incarcerated loved ones. Hearing stories like yours that there is hope, there is redemption, that I think will help them a lot. I really appreciate you sharing that. You made it through incarceration, you excelled, thrived, and really turned your life around. Once you were released, you became an activist. You also help other people. What was it like after you were released? What were the first things you did, and what are some of the programs that you supported?
When I was first released, I knew that even though I didn’t use while I was incarcerated, I was substance-free, and that it was going to be a different challenge in the free world. I actually pushed myself to go to a halfway house called the Samaritan House, where they do NA and AA. I did get that counseling. I did get one-on-one therapy. I did get back on medication shortly after my incarceration. I did all the programming steps that you would take, just for your mental health care.
I want to say the additional step that I took that was outside of just taking care of your mental health was community engagement, community involvement. I got involved with an organization that was founded by one of my former employees, Leslie Turners, when I used to run a mental health facility. She created an organization called the Mass Liberation Project. I remember being in the halfway house. We didn’t have a signal inside the building.
I’m literally on the corner talking to Leslie, and I’m telling her how embarrassed I am about my whole mental breakdown and incarceration. She said, “No, it’s okay.” She’s like, “I work with a program and there are people who care about you and care about your story. They basically want to uplift you.” I thought that was so amazing that there was a group of people that I had never met a day in my life who actually cared about my experience, my incarceration, my struggle, my story.
I thought that was so powerful. I got to meet these individuals, and I got to see where intersexuality, like, meets where now I’m advocating for women’s rights. Now I’m advocating for LGBTQ rights. Now I’m advocating for homeless rights. I think my biggest thing is that I remember being in a cell, not having a voice. I remember being not just locked up in a physical cell, but a mental cell inside my mind, and not being able to advocate and speak for myself. I remember being in those positions, which I think really propelled me to have a louder voice, to speak for those who cannot speak.
It really pushed me to, I know there are people that need a voice out there, and I’m in the position to be that voice. I got very involved after my crush in 2018 and 2019. You get from these community spaces into political spaces, and that’s when AB431 passed in 2019. I became this voice for people who have been incarcerated, been to prison. It was more now on getting people out to vote, getting people civically engaged. Now that you have this right to vote, how do we use it for our power, use it for our communities?
Javon, thank you for sharing that. That’s a lot to unpack. I’m so happy that Leslie was there for you. She’s on Prison: The Hidden Sentence and has a beautiful story, is doing beautiful work, and helping so many people. I just had goosebumps when you were telling that story about all these people who were behind you that you didn’t even know. People realize that there is a community out here and there’s a community that cares. I’m really happy that you got to experience that, as well as getting into some of this work. For AB431, we’re going to talk about you getting into the legislature. However, how were you involved with that, speaking out on that, and were some of the other things that you were able to speak about before you decided to run for a position?
I say the biggest part that I have an AB431 was when it passed. I was the first incarcerated person registered to vote. They were working on that legislation for a long time. Even when I was incarcerated, I definitely wasn’t the main instrument in getting that pass, but the biggest part that I had was being the first person registered to vote. It was a celebration. I know it passed sometime in July, and I remember speaking at a church, and I said, “This feels like my own version of Independence Day.
I felt like I won my independence, and really, when you are not able to vote, you almost feel like you’re less than a citizen. When you feel like you’re less than a citizen, you feel like you’re less than human. That right really made me feel important again, more important, and it made me feel like my voice really does have a purpose, really does have power. Now, when that did pass, I was able to vote for my district attorney, my judge, etc.
When you are not able to vote, you almost feel like you're less than a citizen, and when you feel less than a citizen, you feel less than human. Share on XJovan, what you said is so important because voting is a privilege, and we have so many people out there who think that “My vote doesn’t count.” You just made such an important point, how important it is that it is a right, and how you embrace that now you can vote. You can vote for people in your district for the judges. Thank you for bringing that out. Independence Day. I just love the way you said that. We talked about how this bill also motivated you and enabled you to run for politics. How did you even think about that? I see things out there, and I’m just like, “That’s a lot of work, man, to take on a political position.” How did that happen?
The Path To Public Service: Running For Political Office
I don’t know why I keep thinking of this book that I read when I was locked up. It was either called the Hidden Purpose or the drilling purpose. I really felt like this is what I’m meant to be doing. I took a little detour path, but this was the path that I was meant to go down. It was difficult. There were a lot of roadblocks, a lot of boundaries. No one asked me to run for office.
I think that the most difficult part was that when AB431 passed, Nevada legislators or politicians had no thought about someone who was a felon running for office. They didn’t think that was going to be an outcome of that legislation. It was really a self-driven thing. Now that I’m a lawmaker, I find it more ironic because I went to look at the laws and I said, “Qualify someone to run for office.”
It was age, it was this, and they have to be able to vote. With me being able to interpret the law and interpret it in a way that it made sense to me, I’m like, “I’m able to vote, and I should be able to run for office.” That was the moment when I just decided I’m going to do it regardless of who supports me. I knew this was what I wanted to do. I just pushed forward and didn’t look back at you. The people closest to you, you think they’re going to support you in this journey, but you really just have to support yourself, and just keep looking forward and keep going.
You think the people closest to you will support you in this journey, but you really just have to support yourself and keep going. Share on XYou are proof that you can do anything that you put your mind to. It’s just amazing what you’ve been through and also pulling through to do this. How many people think that you wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll be a member of the legislature.” You saw the bigger picture. “This bill passed, I can vote. I’ve got the credentials and I want to make a change.” I want to support the community, and the best way to support the community is by being able to help pass laws. I’m just so excited that you are part of the legislature that you made history by being the first person to be elected in Nevada who had been formerly incarcerated. Let’s talk about some of the things that you’re working on now or some of the things that you’d like to see as a legislator.
Most definitely something that I’m working on now. I’m working with the first incarcerated state lawmaker in the nation ever, Tarra Simmons, out of Washington. I’m also working with Keturah Herron. She’s a Senator in Kentucky. Joel Caston, who was elected while in prison. All of us are justice-impacted. We’re all currently elected officials. Something that we are working on currently is to get more justice-impacted people to run for office.
Currently, there are only eight state lawmakers who are formerly incarcerated who represent us. We have a vision of growing that number and seeing more representation. That’s something that I’m working on currently. I did serve my first session just this year, and I was able to sponsor a lot of good legislation. I actually got two of my personal bills that I originally authored past. I thought that was a big deal.
One around criminal justice reform and one around mental health care. I really felt like it embodied both of my passions and one of the things that I believed in. That was really fun to be able to not just protest for things that you want to get passed, but actually work on the legislation, meet with other elected officials, your Republican counterpart, or whoever, and fight for your legislation in that form. It was exciting for me. I really enjoyed moving and working on legislation.
Championing Change: Legislative Goals And Community Impact
I know everybody cannot see you because this is just audio, but you’re just glowing, and I could see your passion, and you’re going to be able to make a change. If not this session, next session. It doesn’t stop here. It keeps going. Also, I just want to make a point that when you talk about other justice impacted people running for office, and the mindset of people that don’t understand or haven’t been through this or say they don’t know anybody, because everybody does, but they don’t think they do, that when somebody has served their sentence, that when they’re released, they are a community member and they have every right to make these changes.
They have lived experience, and they can make the communities better. We all should support people who want to make a difference and want to come into the communities to improve them. I just wanted to make a point of that because we have all people, justice-impacted people, activists, family members, people who listen to the podcast, and then also some people who are just interested.
They’re like, “This is interesting. I want to hear more.” Just to raise awareness of how the families are impacted, and also what we call returning citizens, can really contribute to the communities because of their lived experience. I want to thank you for that. I also want to put a plug in here for Prison Families Alliance, which is a support for families.
We would like to know more about what you’re doing in the communities, anything that you’re doing to support the families, because visiting somebody that’s incarcerated is a privilege, it’s not a right. It’s really important to keep the families together. The Connecting 4 Justice Conference is coming here to Las Vegas on November 4th and 5th. We hope to see you there because that’s really bringing everybody together, the family members, the lawmakers, law enforcement, educators, and formerly incarcerated, just to have a conversation.
I just so appreciate everything you’re doing. What I’d like to do is open it up at the end. Is there anything that you would like to say to let’s put it in two parts, let’s put it to returning citizens. Let’s talk about that first. People who have been released because you’re proof that you can excel and you can make a difference, and there is hope. What would you say to those folks?
I would say control your narrative. A lot of people will want to put titles on you or put you in a category, control your narrative, control your story, and don’t get discouraged by the first no. When I first got out of prison, I went back to school, I got my associate’s, and I wanted to be a social worker. I got denied from the social worker program because of my background. That was hard. I didn’t allow that first no, or the second, or the third no to stop me from pursuing my dreams. I say control your narrative and don’t always accept a no.
Control your narrative and story. A lot of people will want to put titles on you or put you in a category. Share on XThat’s good advice, because it’s so hard. We say there’s always hope, but it’s so difficult for somebody who has been incarcerated to find a job. People who keep going forward and take that no, it’s like a salesperson. You’re finally going to get a yes. I interviewed Chuck Gallagher, and he took a job selling funeral plots. Nobody wanted it, and he excelled at that and became very successful.
I’m not saying to do that, but there’s something out there for everybody. Just keep moving forward. What would you say to our families and our community? A lot of people, like family members, are concerned, they’re worried, and the community, even the community, is worried. We know that over 90% of the people are going to be released and coming into our communities. What can we say to them so that they can change the narrative, to change the mindset?
I would say we are definitely a stronger community when we do come together. We have to separate our real thoughts from the thoughts of society. Often, society will lead you down one way when the reality is the other. It’s just like really learning the difference between your thoughts and society’s thoughts. As you said, folks are returning home. These people who are incarcerated already live in the community.
They already live in the neighborhood. You already go to school with them. You already cross paths with them every day. They did the same type of work when they were incarcerated. They worked with shovels, with knives, with axes. They weren’t a threat when they were incarcerated. For the most part, they are not a threat now. We have to really separate what the reality is and what society is feeding me. What is my culture feeding me?
Just think outside of what is being told and look at the numbers. There are plenty of people who are doing well out of prison, but those who will struggle, who go back, it’s not necessary that they don’t have the will to do better. They don’t have the means to do better. They become a part of a cycle where you cannot find employment, so that puts pressure on you. You cannot find housing that puts pressure on you.
You cannot get an educational program that puts pressure on you. You cannot get a certain type of assistance. I want to say there are a lot of people who have the will to do better, but the community and policymakers really need to come together to create the means for people to stay out of going back to prison. I don’t want to say folks are just violent people. People made mistakes, and they put themselves in bad situations. Once they’re released, they want to better themselves, but they have limited opportunities.
I think once we could address some of these societal problems, these systematic problems, and like policies that really, I say, promote people to go back to jail, then that is the solution to making our community whole and bringing us together and making us stronger together, addressing those things. It’s not a perfect answer, but it is a solution that we could all collectively work together to find a better solution for those impacted.
A Legislator’s Vision: Advocating For Free Mental Healthcare
I agree. Opportunities, providing opportunities. It’s so difficult. It’s not just difficult for the person who’s being released. It’s difficult for the family too, because they want to support their loved one. I am going to put you on the spot for my last question. As a legislator, if there’s one thing you could do, I know there’s a myriad of things, but if there’s one thing that you could do, that you could pass, that you could change, what would that one thing be right now today?
One thing, as a legislator, if I had the power and the means to do so, is free mental health care for all. I really feel like that would reduce the prisons, the jails. It would prevent mass shootings. I think it will be the safety net that we actually need because our jails aren’t really filled with criminals, they’re filled with folks who fell on hard times. If I could change one thing in the legislation or the world, it would be free mental health care for all.
Let’s do it, Jovan. We’ll see. We don’t know what the future holds, but we can dream and we can work towards it. Thank you so much for your time. I’ve so enjoyed speaking with you, and I look forward to following your journey. We’re going to stay in touch, and we’ll see what’s next for Jovan. Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Important Links
- Prison: The Hidden Sentence™: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE IS ARRESTED AND INCARCERATED
- Nevada Legislature
- Prison Families Alliance
- Mass Liberation Project
- Leslie Turner – Paths To Liberation: Breaking The Chains Of Mass Incarceration With Leslie Ann Turner – Past Episode
- Hidden Purpose
- Connecting 4 Justice
- Connecting 4 Justice Conference
- Chuck Gallagher – Chuck Gallagher Talks About Prison, Choices, And Second Chances – Past Episode
- Freshman Orientation: Prison paved Jovan Jackson’s path to Legislature
- Prison: The Hidden Sentence
About Jovan Jackson
Jovan Jackson was born and raised in Las Vegas in 1992. He graduated from the College of Southern Nevada and is currently pursuing his studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. An entrepreneur, community organizer, and advocate, Jovan made history as the first formerly incarcerated lawmaker in Nevada when he was elected in 2024 to represent Assembly District 6.
For over a decade, Jovan has dedicated his career to providing mental health and social services to communities across Southern Nevada. He takes pride in his diverse and blended family and in his Black and Italian American heritage, which have deeply shaped his values and commitment to equity, justice, and opportunity for all.
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