Inmate dies following incident at Whitley County Detention Center

An investigation into a weekend incident at the Whitley County Detention Center is ongoing after an inmate was found unresponsive in his cell and later died after being transported to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington.

After posts concerning the incident began circulating on social media Sunday and Monday, the News Journal has confirmed with Whitley County Jailer Jason Wilson that inmate Kyle Barton was injured Saturday, and eventually passed away after he was flown from Baptist Health Corbin to the UK Medical Center.

“I received a call from the jail Saturday morning saying that an inmate had been injured, and that they were calling EMS,” Wilson said. “Shortly after that, they called back and said it was more serious. They were either en route to the ER, or at the ER at that time.”

“They said that they were probably going to have to fly him out,” Wilson continued. “So, I immediately contacted the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department to conduct an investigation. I also contacted the family [of the inmate] and met them at the hospital.”

When asked if he could provide any details on the nature of the incident that led to Barton’s death, Wilson said that he didn’t want to speculate, and that he is waiting on the results of the investigation, which is ongoing at this time.

Lieutenant Wayne Bird of the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department is currently serving as chief investigator in the case. When contacted for comment, he said that details are still sparse, and that investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy and toxicology report as they continue to conduct interviews with individuals at the Whitley County Detention Center.

Bird did confirm that Barton was found unresponsive in his cell, was transported to Baptist Health Corbin, and was later flown out to the UK Medical Center where he passed on Sunday.

Online jail records show that Barton was from the Corbin area, and was arrested on September 14 on multiple charges, including theft by deception, fraudulent use of a credit card, failure to appear and parole violation. At the time of the incident, he was being held at the Whitley County Detention Center as a state inmate.

The News Journal will provide more details on this story as they become available.