About

Kathleen Schaefer has 26 years of experience with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC). She has handled thousands of sentencing hearings and numerous parole board interviews and public hearings. She has extensive courtroom experience including Court Liaison to the Chief Judge in the court formerly known as the Detroit Recorder’s Court.

She was the manager of a parole Boot Camp Aftercare and Probation Violation Detention Facility in Detroit and manager of Circuit Court probation and Parole Services in Wayne and Macomb counties including:

  • sex offender units
  • parole and probation boot camp supervision units
  • electronic monitoring and Public Act 511 units
  • community corrections programs

Kathleen began providing assistance and consultation in sentencing, parole and correctional matters involving the MDOC in 2002.

Professional Affiliations

Current Member

Past Member

  • American Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
  • Michigan Corrections Association, Past President
  • Community Corrections Advisory Board in Wayne and Macomb counties

Presentations, Testimonies, Articles and Lectures

2011
Article published in the Michigan Lawyers Weekly on the High Cost of Paying a Debt to Society and Michigan State Bar, Prison & Corrections Section Newsletter

June 2010
Speaker at a Seminar for Attorneys “Representing Prisoners During Their Public Hearings” sponsored by the Prisons and Corrections Section of the State Bar of Michigan – Lansing

April 2010
Panelist at the Confined Minds Conference sponsored by the Ryan Correctional Facility Inside Out Program at the University of Michigan – Dearborn

March 2010
Featured in HOUR Magazine Article entitled, “Free Thinker” as founder of Professional Probation & Parole Consulting, Inc., on why some Juvenile Offenders are good candidates for release Click Here for “Free Thinker” article (PDF: 570k)

May 2009
Instructor for the course entitled “The Corrections System” at the “Law School for Legislators” Initiative of the State Bar of Michigan

November 2009
Faculty Instructor at the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan Conference

October 2008
Speaker at the National Lawyer’s Guild Conference on Alternatives to Prison Proliferation

Fall 2007
Quoted in Article, Parole Conditions Make it Hard to Succeed in Consensus, a Publication of the Citizen’s Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending (CAPPS)

June 2007
Panelist at the Michigan State Bar Criminal Law Section Policy Conference at Mackinac Island on the topic of “Parole Reform”

April 2007
Provided Testimony before the State of Michigan House Judiciary Committee in Support of House Bill 4548, promoting Parole Board Hearing Reforms and required improvements and enforcements of parole guidelines

May 1998 – 2000
Speaker at the Macomb Bar Association “Criminal Law Nuts and Bolts” Seminar, focusing on Presentence Reports