Patrick Rodriguez

Patrick Rodriguez serves as the inaugural co-executive director of the Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison. In his work, Patrick builds and advances equitable, high-quality educational pathways to degree completion for incarcerated people throughout the state of Georgia. Through his work with the National Executive Council at Columbia University’s Center for Justice, he is widely known as a national thought leader on prison education programs and co-directs 18 initiatives nationally.

Patrick spent 52 months incarcerated in Georgia prisons and uses that lived experience by centering and uplifting the voices of the students he serves. Since his release in 2019, he has expanded in-prison degree programs such as increasing enrollment of new students who are incarcerated, changing state policies, and creating powerful reentry initiatives to support continued education post-release.

Most recently, he has been named board chair for Canary Impact, to support national systemic reform efforts. He currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Georgia chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and is a founding member of the Grady Hospital’s Young Professionals Committee. He is currently a Fund for New Leadership fellow and class of 2025 leadership Buckhead. He is an alum of the Camelback Fellowship, EdTrust Justice Fellow, Truist Foundation fellowship, and a recipient of the 2022 Canary Impact Prize. He has been named to multiple 40 under 40 lists for leading in prison education and reform work in Georgia and nationally, including but not limited to Georgia Trend Magazine’s 40 under 40, Best Self Magazine’s 40 under 40, and most Jezebel Magazine’s 40 under 40. Patrick builds bridges across southern perspectives by placing the value of human life at the forefront of the conversation to create a new way forward to strengthen people, families, communities, and our workforce.