Jessica Symmes sat at her desk Wednesday, a half-packed box and a picture of a predecessor on shelves behind her, reminiscing about the 35 years she’s devoted to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

She recalled starting out as a fill-in clerical staffer after dropping out of college, later deciding she wanted to be a case manager.

Never did she imagine she would end up as the warden of the state’s only maximum-security men’s prison.

“As I look back, it seems pretty incredible that somebody who started out in the file department would end up as the warden,” Symmes said.

Symmes, 56, marks her last day today running the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights. Friday is the first day of her retirement.

She said she has a stack of movies and books to tackle and globetrotting travel plans set for the next several months. She’s also looking forward to spending time with her six grandchildren.

She jokingly admitted that after more than three decades of thriving under a paramilitary structure, the lack of daily routine might just do her in.

“I’m going to take a sabbatical and just recharge the batteries,” said Symmes, who still lives in the St. Croix River Valley.

Symmes’ career in corrections began in the 1970s, after an unsuccessful run at the University of Minnesota.

“I grew up in this area, and I always tell the story that you either went to work at Andersen Windows or you went to the prison back in those days,” Symmes said. “My father was a corrections sergeant at the Stillwater prison, so after I dropped out of dental hygiene school at the university, he marched me down there to get a temporary job.”

A few years later, in the early 1980s, Symmes applied and was turned down for an office supervisor position. She said it forced her to step back and re-evaluate what she was doing and where she wanted her career to go.

She decided to become an officer.

“Not getting that (office) job was probably the best thing that ever happened to me,” Symmes said.

After five years as a corrections officer, Symmes returned to school and got a degree from Metropolitan State University, and then became a case manager for the department.

“After that, it was all frosting for me. That was my five-year plan, to finish my degree and become a case manager,” Symmes said. “But as it turns out, once you work a job for a little while you realize you’re probably competent enough to do another job.”

She called the series of promotions that followed “a long trail of incremental steps.”

“I don’t remember ever being not satisfied with my job,” Symmes said. “I had great jobs, I had fun, I had great supervisors….I never said to myself, ‘I want to be a warden one day.’ I wanted to be in a position of authority and responsibility, but I was fuzzy on what that might be.”

She became warden of the 467-bed Oak Park Heights facility in August 2005.

The key to her success running the prison has been to treat inmates fairly and honestly, a philosophy set out by Frank Wood, Symmes said. Wood was the prison’s warden from its 1982 opening until 1992.

“(Wood said) that this is going to be a humane place, that this is going to be a place where people will be given the opportunity to change, if they’re so inclined,” Symmes said.

A picture of Wood, painted by an inmate, sits on a shelf behind Symmes’ desk. She said it’s a reminder that Wood, who died in 2009, is still guiding her.

Asked whether her stature – she’s a petite woman – has had an impact on her job, Symmes said, “It works for and against me.”

“Inmates are not intimidated, and that’s maybe not a good thing. But (it’s maybe) a good thing too,” she said. “Because I can talk to them. I can say direct things to them and I’m not a physical threat to them, so they accept it. Whereas, if I were 6-foot-5 and big and burly and said that to them, they might be fighting words. So I’ve just tried to use it to my advantage.”

Still, even with 30 years’ experience, her initial approach to inmates as warden was gradual, she said.

“You have to build up credibility and a reputation,” Symmes said. “And that is one of the things I’m proud of is my reputation for follow up and follow through, for both offenders and staff. When I say I’m going to do something, I get back to them.”

Over the years, she’s had successes and frustrations – such as an exhausting and failed attempt to doublebunk the inmates.

And she’s seen changes, such as the additional surveillance technology and converting a housing unit to handle mentally ill inmates, expanding the population of tough-to-manage offenders.

She said she has worked to develop her tough skin over time, but there are still moments that get her.

“I always have a soft spot for the guy expecting a visit and the visit doesn’t come. That always sort of hits you. It’s very lonely here,” she said. “Same with the guy who’s dying in prison. It’s a sad place to die.”

Elizabeth Mohr can be reached at 651-228-5162.