Corrections Ombuds

Our Staff

Sara Appleton, Quality Assurance & Training Manager

Heather Bates, Administrative Services Manager

Jeremiah Bourgeois, Director

Nicholas Brock, Senior Strategic Projects Manager

Jon-G Deleon-Guerrero, Intake Specialist

Carmen Donovan, Executive Assistant

Elisabeth Kingsbury, Deputy Director

Zak Kinneman, Community Relations Specialist

Jacob Marley, Early Resolution Ombuds

Jessica Means, Records Specialist 2

Angee Schrader, Senior Corrections Ombuds

Finn Shinnick, Early Resolution Ombuds 2

David Skattebo, Early Resolution Ombuds

Stella Spracklin, Assistant Corrections Ombuds

Madison Vinson, Assistant Corrections Ombuds

Ollie Webb, Assistant Corrections Ombuds

 

Director

Jeremiah Bourgeois, J.D.

Jeremiah “JJ” Bourgeois is a Washington State legal scholar, award winning writer, and criminal-justice reform advocate whose work focuses on sentencing policy, prison conditions, and independent corrections oversight. Raised in Seattle, he brings a distinctive combination of lived experience and legal training to public service centered on dignity, safety, and accountability in Washington’s correctional system.

Bourgeois spent 27 years incarcerated in Washington State prisons after receiving a mandatory life-without-parole sentence for an offense committed at age fourteen. During his incarceration, he became a widely published journalist and legal thinker, writing on confinement, rehabilitation, and systemic reform. His work examines the realities of prison life, the impact of isolation, and the practical reforms needed to improve outcomes for incarcerated people, staff, and communities.

After his release in 2019, Bourgeois continued his commitment to justice reform through scholarship, policy work, and public education. He earned his Juris Doctor from Gonzaga University School of Law in 2023. While in law school, he completed externships with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office and with CoreCivic, gaining perspective on both public prosecution and private-sector corrections operations. He later served as a judicial law clerk to Judge George B. Fearing on the Washington Court of Appeals, Division III, supporting appellate decision-making and deepening his legal expertise.

In 2023, Bourgeois was appointed to the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, contributing to statewide evaluation and reform of adult and juvenile sentencing policy. He is the author of The Extraordinary Ordinary Prisoner: Essays From Inside America’s Carceral State, and his national commentary continues to shape conversations on proportional punishment, humane custody practices, and institutional transparency.