Implementing Dosage Probation: Unlock the Power of NIC’s New Toolkit

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Jenna Mackey is a Program Manager at the Center for Effective Public Policy. She specializes in the practical application of research and the implementation of evidence-based practices and serves as a technical assistance provider, project contributor, and author. Since 2019, she has provided technical assistance for the National Institute of Corrections’ dosage probation project, collaborating with the Minnesota pilot sites. In this role, she facilitated meetings and collaboration among local leadership, policy teams, workgroups, and subcommittees to implement dosage probation. She is also the primary author of the Dosage Probation Toolkit. With over 15 years of experience in criminal justice, Ms. Mackey has held positions across the federal, state, community, university, and nonprofit sectors. As a former program director for the Indiana Department of Correction, she led the statewide implementation of evidence-based practices in adult prisons. Additionally, as a consultant for the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute, she managed the EPICS project and worked with community supervision agencies nationwide to enhance their practices. Her extensive experience also includes supervising and delivering direct services to adults on probation and parole. Ms. Mackey holds a B.A. from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and an M.A. from Marymount University in Virginia.

Mark Ostrem is the elected County Attorney for Olmsted County, Minnesota. Mark was elected in 2006 and began his term on January 2, 2007. He has been reelected four times. The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office has jurisdiction for all felony criminal cases in the county as well as a significant portion of gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor cases outside city limits. Prior to his election, Mark was in private practice in Olmsted County, focusing primarily on criminal defense. Since 2020, Mark has been serving as the Dodge & Olmsted Dosage Probation Policy Team Chair. Before implementation, he led policymaking meetings with a multidisciplinary team of stakeholders representing all agencies in the county’s judicial system. Since implementation in January 2023, Mark has continued leading the policy team, overseeing the county's success and sustainability of dosage probation. Mark’s experiences on the policy team are featured in the Dosage Probation Toolkit.

Ken Rose is a National Program Advisor with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) in the Community Services Division. His projects at NIC involve the Pretrial Executive Network (PEN), pretrial executive directors’ orientation training and curriculum improvements, and the development of an implementation toolkit for the essential elements of a pretrial system and agency, and probation dosage capacity building and toolkit development. Ken also co-manages the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) in the criminal justice system project. With over thirty-four years of experience in pretrial services and corrections at local, state, and federal levels, Ken has focused on pretrial services implementation, pretrial assessments, and other advancements in the pretrial system. In 2014, Ken was honored with the Commonwealth of Virginia Governor’s Award for Innovation and the Virginia Community Criminal Justice Association’s Award of Excellence for his contributions to pretrial system improvements. As the Southeast Regional Director, he served two terms on the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies (NAPSA) Board of Directors. He received NAPSA’s Member of the Year Award in 2008.

Willie Swanson is the District Supervisor for the Litchfield Field District, Minnesota Department of Corrections (MnDOC). Prior to assuming this role, he was a program director for MnDOC’s Field Services in Wright County, Minnesota, where he played a pivotal role in implementing dosage probation. His efforts involved close collaboration with community stakeholders, criminal justice partners, and probation staff. Willie was a key member of the county’s multidisciplinary policy team and probation workgroup and chaired and participated in multiple subcommittees, provided monthly coaching to agents, and co-wrote the county’s dosage probation policies and procedures. Willie began his career as a juvenile probation agent, after which he spent 13 years managing an adult caseload of individuals with a high likelihood of recidivism. He has expertise in evidence-based practices and cognitive behavioral interventions. He trains agents in using Carey Guides, effective case planning, and the Decision Points curriculum. Additionally, Willie has over a decade of experience facilitating Thinking for a Change and Decision Points. He is also a master trainer for all agent safety curriculums within MnDOC. Willie holds degrees in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota.

Denise Symdon is a Senior Manager at CEPP, where her primary area of expertise is assisting probation and parole agencies and other justice system stakeholder teams in incorporating evidence-based or research-informed system changes. She has collaborated with all five dosage probation pilot sites to implement the model and contributed to developing written material for the Dosage Probation Toolkit. Before joining CEPP, Ms. Symdon worked in the criminal justice field in Wisconsin for over 34 years, where she held a variety of positions, including Administrator at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WI DOC), Division of Community Corrections; and Assistant Administrator at the Division of Adult Institutions. She served on the Wisconsin Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) State Team, co-chairing their Behavior Management Workgroup. Through this EBDM initiative, she led the dosage probation pilot in Milwaukee County and envisioned how this model could be scaled up across the state probation system. Throughout her career, Ms. Symdon has been a champion of incorporating evidence-based and research-informed practices to improve the outcomes of probation and parole supervision. Ms. Symdon received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in social work and behavioral science and law.

Terry Thomas is the Director of Community Corrections for Washington County, where he has worked for over twenty-five years. His department manages pretrial services, community supervision for probationers and parolees, and the Sentence to Service (STS) program. Terry was the dosage probation project manager in Washington County, where he worked closely with community and system stakeholders and probation staff to implement the model. Since its launch in 2016, he has been instrumental in championing and overseeing the county's long-term success of dosage probation. Terry’s experiences are highlighted in the Dosage Probation Toolkit. In addition to his role at Washington County, Terry is an active board member of the United Way of Washington County East, where he chairs the Community Investment Committee and serves on the DEI Committee. He is the Treasurer of the Minnesota Association of Community Corrections Act Counties and a tenth-district non-attorney appointee to the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection, a position appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court. Terry holds a B.S. from Bemidji State University in Bemidji, MN, and an M.S. from Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN.