For nearly three years, Devontae Torriente has been integral to advancing our work at the National Police Accountability Project, bringing ingenuity, dedication, and leadership to some of our most complex and consequential efforts.
Devontae first came to NPAP as a law clerk in the summer of 2023 and continued volunteering his talents before joining us full-time as a legal fellow in 2024. Since then, he has become a valued member of our team, a go-to expert for our partners and member attorneys, and an emerging leader in police misconduct policy and litigation.
Devontae joined NPAP to help support and coordinate legal strategy for attorneys bringing civil rights cases against Wellpath, one of the largest private jail and prison medical contractors in the United States. Two months into his fellowship, Wellpath filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, casting doubt on more than 1,000 pending lawsuits alleging abuse, neglect, and wrongful death. Devontae nimbly and quickly shifted course, helping attorneys understand how the proceedings would affect their cases and what options remained for pursuing accountability. As Devontae outlined in an op-ed for The Appeal, “filing for bankruptcy is an increasingly common tactic for multi-billion dollar companies to evade responsibility for civil rights violations.”
The result of Devontae’s work has been an invaluable and increasingly relevant playbook for advocates and attorneys facing similar challenges when private prison contractors like Wellpath try to use bankruptcy to sidestep accountability to the people they have harmed. The resources that Devontae helped develop have extended far beyond NPAP’s membership, helping shape the broader response in a national reckoning with the prison-industrial complex. The organization has effectively become a central clearinghouse for information and strategy around these proceedings—an effort that has proven valuable even to seasoned civil rights attorneys who found themselves navigating unfamiliar legal terrain.
Devontae also contributed to the organization’s state and federal legislative advocacy, particularly efforts focused on holding federal law enforcement officers accountable. He helped lead the organization’s support for reforms to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), including by drafting a letter backing U.S. Senator Cory Booker’s Right to Redress Act (S.3803). As federal officers–especially immigration agents carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda–violate people’s constitutional rights at unprecedented rates, it is more urgent than ever that people have access to meaningful remedies.
We are proud to see Devontae step into his next role as a law clerk to a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and we look forward to continuing to see him grow as an advocate for justice beyond his fellowship at NPAP.