East Erie Satellite: Second Chances for Juvenile Lifers in the Prison Population

Mr. Johnson is a native of Erie and now resides in Pittsburgh.  Prior to his appointment, Mr. Johnson served as the Deputy Director at THE PROGRAM for Offenders, Inc., which is a nonprofit organization that specializes in community corrections and offers residential alternatives to incarceration, drug and alcohol treatment, and a wide range of support services to male and female offenders and their families in Allegheny County. In 2011, Mr. Johnson retired as Chief Probation Officer for the U.S. District Court in Western Pennsylvania. He worked in Federal Pretrial and Probation services for 23 years. Before that, he worked seven years for Allegheny County's Probation services and two years for Erie County's Probation services. During his time with the Court, Johnson merged probation and pretrial services and received the Director's Award for Leadership, a national award given to a director or manager of a federal court office, in 2009. He initiated a workforce development program designed to help people on probation find and keep jobs.  Johnson was the first federal Chief to hire an ex-offender to run the reentry program. Johnson holds a Bachelor’s degree in social work from Edinboro University and a master’s in leadership from Carlow University. Johnson is a member of MADDADS, NOBLE and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. On June 15, 2016, Mr. Johnson was confirmed by the Senate and reconfirmed for a second term on June 29, 2022. He was appointed by Governor Wolf to serve as Chairman on February 6, 2019 until June 23, 2023.