Dr. Luana Ross received her BA from the University of Montana and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Oregon and one of her specialty areas is criminality. She is the author of many published essays and the award-winning book, Inventing the Savage. She served as President of Salish Kootenai College and was a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Davis, and the University of Washington where she served as the co-director of Native Voices: Indigenous Documentary Filmmaker. She is currently Professor Emerita at the University of Washington. Dr. Ross is a citizen of the Seliš-Ksanka-Sčłqetkwmcin Nation (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) located on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. She was raised at the Old Agency across the street from the tribal jail. As a little girl, she regularly ate breakfast with the prisoners at the cook’s shack.