Central Minnesota Community Corrections

Useful Links:

Central Minnesota Community Corrections

Mission Statement:

It is the mission of Central Minnesota Community Corrections to promote public safety and victim restoration by providing accountability and opportunity for positive change of the offender.

Historical Facts:

Community Corrections began operation in Crow Wing and Morrison Counties in 1974. It was one of the first three community corrections systems started in Minnesota. On January 1, 1992, Aitkin County joined Crow Wing and Morrison Counties to form Central Minnesota Community Corrections.

Services:

Our agency provides court services, juvenile and adult probation and parole (supervised release) supervision, specialized supervision for sex offenders including participation by the agent in group therapy, juvenile diversion services, electronic monitoring, and drug testing. Adult Sentence to Service programming is operated by the Aitkin County Sheriff's Office. CMCC maintains offices in all three counties.

Adult System:

Supervision of adult offenders can range from monitoring Court conditions to high supervision by a Probation Officer. Typical conditions include payment of fines and/or restitution, participation in treatment or educational programming, alcohol/drug testing, evaluations, and/or jail time.

Juvenile System:

Supervision of juveniles means the Probation Officer is monitoring the completion of conditions ordered by the Judge. If a juvenile is placed on probation, a Probation Officer will also require them to follow probation conditions as well. The Probation Officer may have regular contact with the juvenile in their office or meet with the juvenile at their home or school. Conditions of probation may include the payment of fines or restitution, completion of community work hours, participation in treatment or educational programming, alcohol/drug testing mental health evaluations and/or detention.

Sobriety Court:

Sobriety court is a special court that handles cases involving non-violent drug and alcohol addicted offenders through intensive judicial supervision, case management, treatment, chemical testing and graduated sanctions and incentives. While Sobriety courts vary, all share an underlying premise that drug use is not simply a law enforcement or criminal justice problem, but a public health problem with roots deep in society. The Aitkin County Probation Office has a member on the Sobriety Court Team.
Sobriety court is a team approach that brings together a number of interveners (judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, treatment professionals, probation officers, law enforcement, educational and vocational experts and community members) to require an offender to deal with his or her substance abuse problem. Personal accountability is an important aspect of Sobriety court. The program rules are clearly defined and outlined in a handbook that is provided to each participant. A combination of rewards and sanctions are used to motivate and encourage participants toward recovery.

Do Sobriety courts save money?
Sobriety Court Research reflects that for every $1 spent on Sobriety Courts there is a savings of $10 due to reduced jail/prison use, reduced criminality and lower criminal justice costs.

Are Sobriety courts soft on crime?
No. Sobriety courts are designed to maintain greater control over a participant and their drug/alcohol use through intensive supervision, increased chemical testing and frequent judicial monitoring that will immediately address non-compliance with the imposition of sanctions. In the traditional criminal setting, a person in a similar situation would otherwise receive little supervision, infrequent testing and have less incentive to change.

Contact Information:

Central Minnesota Community Corrections
Administrative Office
322 Laurel Street, Suite 32
Brainerd, MN 56401
218-824-1294

Office Hours & Location

Aitkin Probation Office
Aitkin Health and Human Services Building
204-1st Street NW
Aitkin, MN 56431

Phone: (218) 927-7281
Fax: (218) 927-6223

Office Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
(closed on holidays)

Staff Contacts

Elizabeth DeRuyck
Supervisor
(218) 927-7394

Allison Rian
Probation Aide

Kameron Genz
Senior Corrections Agent
Juvenile Diversion and Supervision

Lou Paulson
Senior Corrections Agent
Adult Supervision

Katie Matvick
Corrections Agent
Adult and Sobriety Court Supervision

Dick McKanna
Senior Corrections Agent
Adult Supervision

Janet Tougas
Career Corrections Agent
Adult Supervision

Pat Scollard
Sentence to Service Crew Supervisor
Tim Viney
Sentence to Service Crew Leader
(218) 927-7355

Joyce Griffiths
Program Specialist and
Electronic Home Monitoring
(218) 824-1294