From Revocations to Reintegration: Re-Imagining Community Supervision in Minnesota

Why has community supervision shifted from an alternative to imprisonment to becoming one of the largest drivers of incarceration? Over 60 percent of prison admissions in Minnesota result from supervision failures, making up approximately 25 percent of the prison population and costing taxpayers more than $77 million per year. This panel seeks to reimagine probation and supervised release to create systems that incentivize success rather than punishing failure.

Panelists:

Athena Hollins, State Representative, 66B: Representative Hollins serves the people of District 66B in Ramsey County. She is a graduate of Reed College and the University of St. Thomas Law School. Hollins serves as House Majority Whip and sits on the Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.

Shenika Chambers, Policy Program Manager, Violence Free Minnesota: Shenika Chambers is a Policy Program Manager for Violence Free Minnesota. In this role, she works closely with survivors, member programs, and community partners to develop and implement policies that support victim/survivors across the state.

Nikki Engel, Policy & Legal Systems Program Manager, Violence Free Minnesota: Nikki Engel is the Legal Systems Program Manager at Violence Free Minnesota: the coalition to end relationship abuse. In this role, she works closely with domestic violence agencies and advocates across the state on civil and criminal responses to domestic violence. She also works with state agencies and policymakers to ensure that domestic violence survivors’ experiences are represented in policy making decisions. She has a background in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a focus on gender-based violence.

Kahlee Griffey, Until We Are All Free: Kahlee Griffey is an advocate for those who have experienced incarceration after her own experience with juvenile incarceration. The traumatic experience motivated her to get her degree in Criminal Justice and start fighting for those still suffering from this harmful system. She currently serves as the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director at Until We Are All Free Movement, a local grassroots human rights organization which serves currently and formerly incarcerated leaders to find their route to liberation. Kahlee holds a B.A from Metropolitan State in Criminal Justice and Psychology and serves as a member of the MNDOC Task Force for Justice Involved Women and Girls.

General admission tickets for this event are FREE with a suggested donation of $20.00 to support the work of the MNJRC and our partners as you are able. CLE tickets are $60, and Continuing Education Credits for Social Workers are available for $20. If you want a CLE or Social Work CEU credit, please pay the ticket amount at registration.