Senior Director of Change Institute, Jody Nelson, has joined the MN Department of Corrections Supervised Release Board as a Juvenile Expert Member. The Supervised Release Board is given the authority to grant certified adults, indeterminate/life-sentenced individuals, and certain criminal sexual conduct offenses parole after they have served their minimum term of imprisonment also known as a Parole Eligibility Date (PED).
Jody will be reviewing parole cases of incarcerated persons whose crimes were committed before they became a "legal" adult (age 18). As studies have found the executive functioning skills of a person's brain are not fully developed until around age 25, there can be reasonable justification in certain cases that the incarcerated person should not have received their full life-sentence. Jody will contribute her 50 years of experience and knowledge working in the field of juvenile development and mental health.
The Supervised Release Board considers information collected from facility staff, the community where the individual was sentenced, any surviving family members of the victim, and sometimes the incarcerated person themselves. At the reviews, the Board will either assign a projected release date or continue the case with directives to be completed before the next review. Each review is evaluated individually, with treatment and programming recommendations unique to that individual.
Jody will serve on the Supervised Release Board through January 2026.
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