Christine Marallen is the Chief Strategy Officer for Damascus Reentry, Inc., a nonprofit prison reentry organization she co-founded in 2015 in Cincinnati. A former executive with USA Today Newspaper she traveled throughout the globe leading personal development training before she began her journey working with the incarcerated as Director of Prison Ministries for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. As Professor of Criminal Justice at Xavier University she took hundreds of undergraduate students into Ohio prisons to learn alongside incarcerated students in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.

As a Trauma-informed professional from the NARM Training Institute and Reentry Specialist, she developed a course curriculum in trauma which she leads in criminal justice facilities for participants who will soon be released. Her decades of work and advocacy focuses on the importance of education, community support, addressing systemic issues, and a compassionate approach to helping formerly incarcerated individuals successfully reenter society. Her book “Good Lookin’; Out: Chapel Girl in Prison” (prison slang for ‘strong work, thanks’) captures the boots-on-the-ground reality of what’s possible with incarceration, restoration, and redemption, as told through the individuals and stories she has encountered

Christine holds a B.A. in English from Miami University, an M.S. in Criminal Justice, and an M.A. in Theology from Xavier University. She is past President of the American Catholic Correctional Chaplains Association and was awarded the Anna E. and Williams F. Madges Alumni Award from Xavier University for Outstanding Contribution to Church and Society. She still claims however her best work is her five children, who have been hearing about crime, justice, and prisons since they were old enough to care.