Kelly Russell

Kelly joined the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in 1999 as Recreation Program Specialist in the Jefferson County Detention Facility. In 2007, she acquired the position of Mental Health Transition Planner as part of the Detentions Counseling Unit, a newly created position within the Sheriff’s Office. Since that time, Kelly has developed the transition program and oversees all re-entry services for male and female offenders in this 1,280 bed maximum security detention facility in Golden, Colorado. Kelly’s responsibilities include assisting offenders being released from custody back into the community find stable housing, mental health and/or substance abuse treatment, benefit acquisition, employment, transportation, and medical care. She works closely with a number of community agencies in order to ensure continuity of care for offenders being released, to include the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office, Jefferson Center for Mental Health, and Jefferson County Human Services.

Kelly has been an instructor of criminal justice courses at Westwood College in Aurora, Colorado and has guest lectured at Metropolitan State College in Denver. She has written for Corrections Today and Human Kinetics. Kelly is a member of the American Jail Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the American Correctional Association. She currently sits on the Jefferson County Mental Health Substance Abuse Subcommittee as well as several committees within the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Kelly has a B.S. in Recreation with an emphasis in Therapeutics from the University of Northern Colorado and a M.S. in Criminology from Regis University.

A Colorado native, Kelly currently resides in Littleton, Colorado. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her nieces and nephews, horses, golf, traveling, photography, and writing.