Neil J. Houston, Jr.

Scholar – Athlete – Justice Reformer – Philanthropist  

Neil Houston grew up in the Edgewood section of Cranston, attended LaSalle Academy and graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1967. His academic excellence, leadership, dedication to service and excellence in athletics earned him an endorsement to apply for a Rhodes Scholarship. Neil returned to Rhode Island to enroll at Brown University to further his studies and commitment to both local and national social justice issues. Following his coursework, he played two years of professional baseball with the Detroit Tigers organization.  

In the 1970s and 1980s, Neil continued his passion for social justice work and supported the dignity of incarcerated men and women and newly released former prisoners in all he did. He served as director of management and finance for Massachusetts Halfway Houses, Inc., a private organization that provided community-based living facilities to offenders prior to their release on parole. He was one of the founding leaders of the Justice Resource Institute, an alternative sentencing, restitution, and mediation program for court-involved individuals. In 1978, he was appointed executive director of the Crime and Justice Foundation and focused on providing housing and support to recently released prisoners.

Neil served as chair for the Gender Bias Study Committee of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court regarding the treatment of female offenders within the court system and penal institutions. He was president and founder of the Boston Community Offices, an organization to provide permanent rental space in downtown Boston for nonprofit organizations. In 1987, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts appointed him to the Commission on the Legal Needs of Children. He also served on the Governor’s Special Commission on Correction Alternatives.

Neil is credited with the design and implementation of the nation’s first mediation program, first day reporting center, and the first facility to house incarcerated, pregnant women. The Neil J. Houston House in Boston was established in 1986 as the first pre-release program for such women. The Neil J. Houston Senior Living House in Roxbury, MA and the Neil J. Houston, Jr. House in Pawtucket, RI, through their continued service to social justice, honor the man who had a profound impact on the lives of formerly incarcerated people.

In 1981, Justice Assistance initiated an annual award to honor individuals who have “demonstrated dedication, service, and citizen contributions to the criminal justice profession and the public interest.”  Since 1988, Justice Assistance has been proud to name the award after Neil J. Houston, Jr. as a memorial to his outstanding achievements in criminal justice reform.

At his untimely death in November 1987, Neil Houston was the executive director and president of the Gardner Howland Shaw Foundation in Boston, a private, nonprofit group that gives grants to programs for women who are imprisoned and to shelters for battered women and was president of the Frederick E. Weber Charities, serving low-income and disadvantaged families and individuals. A special sitting by the justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court paid tribute to a man who, they concurred,  made the world a better place.