Priya Sarathy Jones
Priya Sarathy Jones is the Co-Executive Director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center (FFJC), where she shares responsibility for strategic planning, fundraising, and co-leading the organization’s mission to reform and eliminate the harmful impacts of fines and fees across the United States.
Bringing nearly 20 years of experience in law, policy, government, and advocacy, Priya oversees FFJC’s Advocacy and Campaigns Division — driving national campaigns and state and local legislative efforts that empower communities, advocates, and governments to achieve transformative policy change. She works closely with state and national teams to build advocacy strategies that translate into real legislative reform.
Priya joined FFJC in 2019 as National Advocacy and Campaigns Director, creating and shaping the organization’s national campaigns and national advocacy strategy before being named Deputy Executive Director in 2022. Before FFJC, she spent nearly a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice, working across the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the Office of Justice Programs, and as a liaison to the Office for Access to Justice. Her portfolio spanned fines and fees, 6th Amendment rights, wrongful convictions, capital case litigation, and law enforcement reform — with a particular focus on tribal jurisdictions. She also led award-winning, cross-agency initiatives, managed the distribution of DOJ criminal justice grants, and served as Senior Counsel for the House Oversight Committee before returning to DOJ to help shape its policy and legislative priorities.
Among her most defining work, Priya served on the nation’s first task force dedicated to fines and fees reform and led the DOJ’s inaugural “Price of Justice” program, which emerged from the federal investigation into policing practices in Ferguson, Missouri. In 2023, she was appointed to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity, advising the Secretary of Transportation on civil rights and equity issues in transportation.
A sought-after speaker and frequent media commentator, Priya has delivered keynotes and presentations on economic, racial, and criminal justice reform across the country. She holds a J.D. and a B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina and is a member of the North Carolina State Bar Association. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children and serves on the Board of DC Central Kitchen.