submitted by Riley County Community Corrections
(Riley County, KS – December 14, 2023) After 31 years of service to the State of Kansas, Shelly Williams, Director of Riley County Community Corrections has announced her retirement effective April 1, 2024.
Williams graduated from Kansas State University in 1992 with a bachelor’s in sociology, emphasis in criminology. She started her career at Central Kansas Community Corrections in Great Bend, Kansas, as an adult intensive probation officer. She worked in Great Bend for 15 months before accepting a position in April 1994 with Riley County Community Corrections in Manhattan, Kansas.
Shortly after starting at Riley County Community Corrections, Williams was asked to transition to a juvenile intensive probation officer, where she worked with juvenile offenders for 13 years. Shelly was promoted to Juvenile Services Supervisor in the fall of 1997, where she developed and implemented five different prevention, intervention, and supervision programs.
In 1998, Shelly accepted a temporary assignment under the leadership of former Chief Judge Meryl D. Wilson, where she served as the facilitator for juvenile justice reform. Shelly led 35 community members through a strategic planning process that met the unique needs of Riley County.
Shelly was promoted to the Director of Riley County Community Corrections in 2007 following the retirement of Frank McCoy who had led the agency since the early 1980’s. Under Shelly’s leadership, the agency implemented evidence-based practices in corrections, risk-based, randomized drug testing, and an emphasis on positively changing offender behavior. During her tenure, Shelly has overseen both the creation of a Youth Court and a Drug Court. Riley County Community Corrections has met the benchmark of reduced offender recidivism in all but one year of Shelly’s leadership. Shelly is most proud of developing, recruiting, and maintaining over 20 volunteer Protective Homes for children and youth placed into police protective custody.
Williams was instrumental in leading Community Corrections through 10 years of flat or reduced funding. More recently, Shelly has overseen the growth of the agency budget, the first-ever financial assistance from Riley County, and met the goal of being a million-dollar agency.
Williams has served on and held leadership roles within the Kansas Sentencing Commission, the Kansas Criminal Justice Reform Commission, was a member of the Kansas Department of Corrections Community Corrections Advisory Committee, and an active member and immediate past president of the Kansas Community Corrections Association. She also served on the K-State Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (Institutional Review Board) for many years.
Regarding her decision to retire, Williams stated, “It was just time. Change is good for an organization and I’m confident new leadership will breathe new life into the agency.” Shelly plans to visit her two adult children and help her husband on the ranch as he builds his longhorn breeding hobby.