Jailer being asked to work as bailiff

As efforts move ahead to turn the Whitley County Jail into a regional detention center, the Whitley County Fiscal Court voted Tuesday morning to ask Jailer Jerry Taylor to report to work as a court bailiff.
On July 22, a Franklin Circuit judge upheld an order by Corrections Department Commissioner John Rees to close the Whitley County Jail for a variety of reasons, including the jail’s management.
“Since the jail has shut down, and Mr. Taylor is still drawing money from the county, I think we have two choices. We can ask him to work as a bailiff, or transportation officer,” Magistrate Wayne Wilson said as he made a motion asking the fiscal court to send Taylor a letter asking him to report to work as a court bailiff.
Magistrate Nolan Bird seconded the motion, and the fiscal court voted unanimously to approve it.
When asked about having Taylor work as a court bailiff when the grand jury is preparing to start an investigation into him and the jail, Whitley County Judge-Executive Mike Patrick admits that “it does seem to be a conflict of interest there doesn’t it. There’s a conflict at best.”
Patrick said he doesn’t think the fiscal court could tell Taylor not to work as a bailiff due to the wording of state statutes.
“The jailer is an officer of the circuit and district courts for his county. In any county where there is no jail and the jailer does not transport prisoners, the jailer shall serve as a bailiff to the circuit and district courts of the county,” Kentucky Revised Statute 71.050 states.
“To say no would be a violation of law,” Patrick said. “The court couldn’t tell him not to because of the statutes. The court taking any position on this may be mute. The requirement is there by law regardless that is the way I read that statute. It says shall.”
Will the fiscal court continue to pay Taylor his jailer’s salary, which is in excess of $60,000, if he doesn’t report to work as a bailiff?
“I think that would probably take a later vote of the court,” Patrick said admitting that he’s not sure if the fiscal court would even have that option.
Patrick said work is moving ahead to turn the jail into a regional detention center.
“There were some technical questions that we had that relate to the basic formation of the regional jail authority. We are trying to get some answers to questions. I think once those are answered, things will begin to move a lot faster,” Patrick said.
Patrick said he thinks it will probably take about three more weeks to get the regional jail formed.
He said the county is still making it financially, but that the jail needs to re-open as soon as possible.
“We are not going to exactly panic yet, but we are going to try and get it done in two weeks. The shorter the time frame the better. I can’t stress that enough,” Patrick said.
Negotiations are currently focusing only on re-opening the Whitley County Jail, but that the regional jail authority might re-open the Knox County Jail at some point in the future.
One possible scenario might be to house male inmates at one facility, and females at the other.
“It is my understanding that we do believe you can have more than one facility that is one of the things we are trying to get answered for sure,” he noted.
Patrick said he’s not sure how much work would have to be done on the Knox County facility to get it up to code.
The biggest plus to re-opening the Knox County Jail as well would be having additional bed space. “Just to say it, the Whitley County Jail was pretty full. It would just be a matter of utilizing that as additional bed space to reduce any overcrowding,” he added.