James Raymond Bell (1954 – 2025) founded the Haywood Burns Institute (BI) in 2001 after more than 20 years as an attorney at San Francisco’s Youth Law Center (YLC), where he represented youth in institutions and litigating the conditions of confinement. Under his leadership, BI became a national leader in promoting justice equity, working with system and community stakeholders in more than 300 counties throughout the nation.