About Us
TPCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Amite Dominick, PhD
President/Founder
Dr. Amite Dominick became President and Founder of TPCA in July 2021. Dr. Dominick has worked in advocacy since 2015. Dr. Dominick has worked with legislators to file historic bills that requested Humane temperatures within the Texas Prisons, co-authored reports, conducted various training of advocacy for affected family members, and organized events to bring awareness events to the community. Prior to Dr. Dominick's stint as vice president of TPAA (May 2018 to June 2021), she was a Board Member of Texas CURE.
Dr. Dominick obtained both her Bachelor's of Clinical and Counseling Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Psychology from San Jose State University and a Doctorate degree in Psychology, from Loma Linda University in California. Her major areas of concentration included Experimental, Biological, and Social Psychology.
Dr. Dominick is a former Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Argosy University, Farmers Branch, Texas, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, Moreno Valley Community College, Riverside Community College, and San Bernardino Community College at Crafton Hills.
Dr. Dominick is passionate about seeing changes made to the inhumane conditions in Texas prisons. Dr. Dominick has testified before the Texas state legislatures regarding these conditions. She has been profiled in various publications and has spoken at major conferences and events, including Hope Summit. As President & Founder of TPCA Dr. Dominick is committed in every way to whatever this fight takes.
Jessica Dickerson
Treasurer
jessica.dickerson@TPCAdvocates.org
Jessica Dickerson became involved in advocacy in 2020 after finding out that most Texas prisons don’t have air conditioning. This was a surprise, and the lack of humanity shown to Texas prisoners spurred her to action. She began by volunteering at Beat the Heat events, which were eye-opening and further cemented her commitment to advocating for AC. With a background in small business, she has used her experience to help with the incorporation and organizational structure that supports TPCA’s mission which she stands behind fully.
Jessica’s passion is research and community education. She believes that more hasn’t changed within the criminal justice system because the public doesn’t understand that what happens behind prison walls connects and affects their communities. When they understand, they will become part of the movement advocating for positive change in our criminal justice system.
When she is not volunteering with TPCA, Jessica and her writing partner and illustrator, who is incarcerated, write and publish children’s books. Writing and publishing have been a long-standing dream, and she is grateful for the partnership that made this possible. Through her small publishing company, Bumbershoot Book Solutions, they hope to bring joy and giggles to children, especially to those who are dealing with the difficulties of incarceration.
In her free time, Jessica spends time with her children and with her five grandchildren. They are the light in her life!
Leigh Holman, PhD
Secretary
Leigh Falls Holman, Ph.D., is a 25+ year veteran mental health provider specializing in working with emotional dysregulation that results from trauma and often manifests in addictions and offending behaviors. In the 1990s, she developed and ran the Project OASIS Juvenile Sex Offender (JSO) treatment program in Galveston County, for kids adjudicated or on deferred adjudication for sexual offenses, their victims (often family members), and their parents, which was a demonstration project for the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council. She also worked with the Illinois Sexually Violent Predator program with civilly committed sex offenders. After 15 years as a mental health professional working in school, community agency, private practice, hospital, detention, prison, and residential settings as a master’s level counselor with at-risk youth, kids in foster care, people struggling with addictive behaviors, and juvenile and adult offenders, she earned her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision at Sam Houston State University. Following which, she earned tenure at a research one institution in Tennessee, before moving to Dallas where she currently works as the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Department Chair at the Dallas campus of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Dr. Holman leads a team of researchers, the Trauma, Addictions, and Offender (TAO) Research Team, focusing largely on research related to offenders with mental illness; research on training police officers, school personnel, and military personnel in mental health triage and de-escalation; and counselor burnout research. Dr. Holman has authored 40 peer-reviewed publications, including a textbook on Forensic Mental Health Counseling that takes a trauma- informed approach to working with victims and offenders within a neurobiological and socio-culturally developmental context. She has another 10 national magazine publications and videos and over 125 national and international juried presentations on these topics. Dr. Holman’s personal interest in working with Veterans and trauma-survivors with addiction and offending behaviors is related to her multi-generational family history of individuals who struggle with trauma-related mental health and addiction issues resulting in legal consequences and her sincere desire to find solutions to the problems of trauma-motivated emotional dysregulation that results in criminal behavior.
Dr. Holman was professionally recognized in 2022 with the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) Kitty Cole Human Rights Award, after being nominated for a lifetime of service and research with offenders with mental illness by the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling. She also was recognized by the International Association of Addictions and Offender Counselors (IAAOC) with the Outstanding Professional Award in 2013 for her contributions to the profession. Additionally, Dr. Holman has served as the Associate Editor of Theory and Practice for the Journal of Mental Health Counseling, the Production Editor for Research in Schools, and as an editorial board member for the Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling, the Journal of Mental Health Counseling, the Couples and Family Journal, and the Journal of Counseling Ethics and Values. A former President of IAAOC, she served on IAAOC’s board of directors for 9 years. Additionally, she’s served on multiple national committees and taskforces for ACA and on ACA’s board of directors, as the IAAOC liaison, for 6 years. Currently, she is the Texas Association of Assessment and Research in Counseling’s senatorial representative to the Texas Counseling Association’s board of directors.
Tanika Solomon, Esq.
Tanika J. Solomon is an attorney licensed in the State of Texas and in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Northern, and Eastern Districts of Texas. Her primary areas of practice are Civil Rights, Injuries, Criminal Defense & Parole.
Prior to entering the legal field in 2008 Attorney Solomon spent 10 years earning a reputation as a Political Consultant. She has served as a Congressional Aide, Opposition Researcher, Issues Manager; and Media and Message Manager for local candidate and issues campaigns.
While pursuing her graduate studies in Washington, she worked as a Legislative Aide on Capitol Hill to the late Congresswoman Barbara Rose Collins of the 15th District of Michigan.
Community Service:
Tanika "T.J." Solomon joined the staff of the Historic Prison Show in November of 2017. She was fortunate to have volunteered for 2 years alongside co-Host Hank Lamb, with Producer David Collingsworth and the rest of The Prison Show Gang. This radio show has served Houston, the State of Texas, and the world over 34 years by educating the public on issues surrounding incarceration, parole, reentry, recidivism, rehabilitation, immigration, Veterans affairs, housing, mass incarceration, and the death penalty.
Attorney Solomon is a member of the American Bar Association. Tanika has been a member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association for almost a decade. She has been mentored and trained by this organization in the areas of Post Convictions and Parole since 2017. Tanika has received recognition from National Trial Lawyers Top 100 and Top Lawyers Registry.
Tanika is on the Board of Texas Prison Community Advocates, which was founded by Dr. Amite Dominick. This organization advocates for inmate quality of life issues such as the inhumane temperatures in our Texas prisons.
Mrs. Solomon is a member of the National Women of Achievement, Inc. This organizations' thrusts are to improve the quality of life for women, children, and the elderly, particularly in communities of color.
Education:
Tanika earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Houston Law Center. While studying Law at U of H, Tanika worked full time as Program Assistant to Richard Alderman (The People's Lawyer) at The Center for Consumer Law. She also served as an Editor on the Journal of Consumer & Commercial Law; competed in Moot Court and Pretrial Litigation competitions. She studied Political Science at Texas Southern University, in Houston, Texas; and Political Management at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Teaching:
Attorney Solomon is a former instructor of Family Law at the Center for Advanced Legal Studies in Houston, Texas.
Pursuit of Happiness:
T.J. as her friends call her occasionally enjoys hunting and fishing with her husband and 2 adult children. She credits her strength and even temperament to her faith in God, and her calling to do this work. Each day she gives thanks for an active law practice that allows her to help those in crisis!
TPCA is seeking Board Members
