Robina Institute Executive Director Kelly Lyn Mitchell Appointed Assistant Commissioner of Community Services and Reentry with the Minnesota Department of Corrections

Kelly Lyn Mitchell, executive director of the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice will depart Minnesota Law this summer to become Assistant Commissioner of Community Services and Reentry with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. The appointed role will include oversight of the department’s probation and supervised release (Minnesota’s version of parole) services as well as reentry processes, community notification services, and a new family supports unit formed to increase meaningful connections between people who are incarcerated and their families.

During her nine years as Executive Director of the Institute, Mitchell led and participated in numerous research projects and policy initiatives related to sentencing, community supervision, and prison release. Along with founding Robina Board Member Professor Richard Frase, she led the development of the Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center, establishing the Robina Institute as the only research institute with expertise in all U.S. sentencing guidelines systems. More recently, her research has focused on community supervision, including collaborating with Ramsey County, Minnesota in the Reducing Revocations Challenge, a project to understand the drivers of probation violations and revocations and develop policy and practice recommendations to improve outcomes for people on probation.

"Kelly has made an enormous impact in criminal sentencing and other areas of criminal justice in her leadership of the Robina Institute," says William McGeveran, Interim Dean and Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett Professor of Law. "Her collaborative work with students, community organizations, and faculty has benefited those impacted by the criminal justice system, and we are excited to see the good she will do in her new position." 

Soon to be released are several reports from Mitchell’s Aligning Supervision Conditions with Risk and Needs project, which sought to improve how supervision conditions are set for people on probation and parole. She also recently co-authored two reports on prison release practices during the COVID pandemic: Examining Prison Releases in Response to COVID: Lessons Learned for Reducing the Effects of Mass Incarceration and Risk Averse and Disinclined: What COVID Prison Releases Demonstrate About the Ability of the U.S. to Reduce Mass Incarceration.

In 2019, Mitchell was appointed chair of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission by Governor Tim Walz, a role she held concurrently with her position as Executive Director of the Robina Institute.

“I am so proud of the contributions Robina has made in the areas of sentencing, community supervision, and prison release. When I came on board, we had a goal of connecting research with practice—in other words, we wanted our research to make a difference in these areas—and I believe we have done that.” Mitchell said. “While I am looking forward to this new chapter in my career, I will definitely miss Robina. Add my name to the mailing list though; I can’t wait to see what Robina does next!”