About
Truthworks Reentry Project
A federal post-conviction and reentry support practice. Georgia-based, serving families nationwide. We prepare the record so the person in custody can speak for themselves with the facts in hand.
The practice model
Prepare, don't represent.
Truthworks exists because there is a gap between what people in custody need and what the legal system provides. Disciplinary hearings, records requests, and administrative remedies are procedural work: fast, document-heavy, and rule-bound. Most of it never reaches a lawyer.
Our model is built around that fact. We do the procedural work with discipline: records first, plain language always, deadlines computed and tracked, every document written to be safe for staff to read. The person signs and files. When a legal judgment is needed, it comes from a licensed attorney under their own name.
We use person-first language: person in custody, resident, client. The only exception is a document going into the Bureau of Prisons or a court, where we use the terms those systems require.
The supervising-attorney rule
Legal conclusions travel under a name.
Truthworks is owner-managed by a non-attorney. That shapes everything. We do not practice law, do not furnish counsel, and never describe ourselves as a law firm.
Anything we produce that carries a legal conclusion is marked for legal review and goes to a named supervising attorney before it reaches a client. Attorney review memos and case law research memos are privileged and go only to counsel. Our house line when a legal question is asked is fixed: “We can tell you what the record shows once we have it. The attorney has to be the one to tell you what your options are.”
Federal rule 28 C.F.R. § 542.16(a) and the unauthorized-practice statutes of Georgia, Illinois, and Wisconsin shape this model, and we follow them as written.
The team
By role
Dr. Tatyana Moaton
Sets the practice model and its rules, owns the client relationship, and is accountable for every document that leaves the practice. Trained paralegal: paralegal studies certificate, Blackstone Career Institute certificate (immigration law), member of NALA – The Paralegal Association. Not an attorney; does not give legal advice.
Dr. Aisha Whitaker
Runs intake, conflicts, deadlines, and delivery. Your day-to-day contact from the first reply to the last filing. Chicago-based.
Linda Sheffield
Licensed attorney who reviews anything marked for legal review, under her own name. Member of the State Bar of Georgia; admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second through Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal post-conviction, sentence reduction, habeas, appeals, and clemency practice.
Additional roles on engagements as needed: paralegal, investigator, and family advocate. Each works under the same rules.
Standing rules
Written into every document
- Never promise an outcome or a release date.
- Never describe Truthworks as a law firm.
- A legal conclusion travels only under a named supervising attorney.
- The client files; Truthworks prepares.
- Person-first language, except in documents going into the BOP or a court.
Who we work with
Families, sponsors, and the organizations that refer them
Families and sponsors on the outside are our clients and primary contacts. We also work alongside reentry nonprofits, defender offices, and faith communities who refer people to us, and we can support organizations that want to offer this preparation to the people they serve.
To talk about a referral relationship, write to intake@truthworksreentry.org.
Ready to start?
Intake takes about ten minutes. We reply during business hours, and the clock starts the moment we have your records.