Whitley County joins lawsuit against Kentucky Department of Corrections

A table displayed in the lawsuit containing information regarding the number of state inmates and where they are housed compiled using Kentucky Department of Corrections population reports.

Whitley County has formally joined the fray in a multi-county lawsuit against the Kentucky Department of Corrections (KDOC).

During the Whitley County Fiscal Court’s regular monthly meeting on Feb. 21, magistrates authorized the county to join the lawsuit, which was originally filed in January in Franklin Circuit Court. The suit is largely led by the Kentucky Jailers Association, consisting of the elected jailers in Campbell, Kenton, Boyd and Marion counties.

The goal of the suit—in a broad sense, at least—is to see the KDOC become compliant with state law regarding the classification, housing and costs associated with state inmates, who often serve long sentences in county jails at the county’s expense.

Inmates housed in a county jail who are awaiting trial or sentencing are considered county inmates, despite not always being detained in the county jail by county-hired law enforcement officials. Under current state law, once an inmate is convicted, the KDOC has 45 days to classify the convicted inmate as a state inmate and move them out of the county jail into a state-run facility, unless the inmate is a Class C or D felon that qualifies for a county jail sentence. If the inmate remains in the county jail once classified as a state inmate, the county housing that inmate is entitled to compensation for associated costs at a rate of approximately $35 a day.

The issue, however, according to Whitley County Judge/Executive Pat White, is that the KDOC is skirting state law by both avoiding the state inmate classification or failing to pay counties for housing those inmates post-conviction.

“They have created a new classification called a ‘controlled intake’ inmate. So, if they run past that 45 days and don’t want to classify them as state because they don’t want to pay the counties, they just call them controlled intake inmates. And then they just don’t pay us,” said White. “Counties are having to foot the bill for the state’s laws. Nobody is in jail because they violated a county ordinance. They’re all in jail because they violated a state law and they’re being prosecuted in state court in front of a state judge in a state judicial center.”

The lawsuit alleges that the KDOC purposely uses county jails to keep state-run facilities from being overpopulated, though that often creates crowding issues at the county jails.

A table containing information regarding the number of state inmates and where they are housed is displayed within the lawsuit. The table, which was compiled using KDOC population reports, shows that as of Dec. 1, 2022, there were 19,958 state inmates throughout Kentucky. Of that number, over 9,500 were housed in county jails, consisting of nearly 48 percent of all state inmates.

Another table provided in the lawsuit details the number of controlled intake inmates in Kentucky as of Dec. 1, 2022, were 2,523.

“The lawsuit states that it costs up to $50 a day to house inmates. 2,500 people at $50 a day at 30 days in a month—that’s a lot of money in a month that counties are losing because the state’s not complying with their own statutes,” said White.

The Whitley County Detention Center has an official capacity of 185 inmates, though it regularly operates well above that limit. According to White, the WCDC often has over 200 inmates and is often “close to 300” inmates. Of those inmates, White said that approximately 100 of them either are state inmates or controlled intake inmates.

Using the math from White’s quote above, if the WCDC houses an average of 100 state and/or controlled intake inmates a day at a cost of $50 a day, the county is on the hook for $150,000 a month in costs associated for housing those inmates.

White stated that the county loses almost $2 million a year operating the WCDC. In fact, White said that he had former Whitley County Treasurer Jeff Gray perform a basic audit early last year that focused solely on the WCDC. According to that audit, the county has lost approximately $20 million in jail costs alone since White assumed office as judge/executive in 2007, a number that White called both a “huge burden” and “grossly unfair.”

“It’s not fair to the employees of the county. It’s not fair to the citizens of the county. The county has this hole in its back pocket that keeps it from being able to provide the equipment, the wages, the staff and the services that our rural population deserves,” said White.

Along with the financial weight that the issue places on county jails, the lawsuit claims that the current status quo of the KDOC also “adversely affects the inmates themselves.”

“Depending on their classifications, many state inmates are eligible to—or required to—participate in programs designed to improve their personal health, education, employability, or other life skills, and some are eligible to participate in work programs,” the suit states. “However, since eligibility to participate in such programs is dependent on a state inmate’s classification, any delay in classifying a state inmate also delays his ability to participate in these programs and, in turn, delays his ability to become parole-eligible, to finish his sentence, and/or to earn money.”

The lawsuit does not seek to have state inmates removed from county jails, but does ask an order be issued to require the KDOC to comply with state law by properly classifying state inmates within 45 days of conviction. Additionally, the lawsuit asks that the KDOC be required to enter into negotiated contracts with each county in which state inmates are housed that will provide reimbursement for costs associated with housing the inmates.

The reimbursements being sought through the lawsuit are also more than what is currently provided to house state inmates and more closely reflects the $50 a day that the lawsuit claims it costs to house an inmate.

White noted that this lawsuit isn’t the first that has been brought against the KDOC on this issue, but stated that he is hopeful for an outcome that benefits both Whitley County and other counties with jails that have been forced

“We’re trying to force some action and trying to get some help,” said White.