Taylor threatens to sue fiscal court, state

Whitley County Jailer Jerry Taylor says he may file suit against the county and the state over efforts to give the recently hired jail administrator more authority over the jail and the ability to hire and fire jail employees, and county leaders are apparently backing off their efforts at least temporarily to further empower the administrator.
In May, the fiscal court hired Forrest Sexton to serve as the jail administrator after being ordered to do so by the Kentucky Department of Corrections or close the jail.
Last week the fiscal court voted to give Sexton the authority to run the jail “as he sees fit,” including giving him the authority to hire and fire jail employees.
“The law says clearly that the jailer shall and is responsible for the hiring and firing,” Taylor said. “They can’t come in here in this jail over me. I am elected by the public. A constitutional right the people have is to elect whom they want to take care of their buildings or their money, or whatever. When you are voted in they don’t take it away from you unless they vote you out, or they can prove that you are an outlaw some way or another.
“I’ve been wronged. I’m fed up to here with them. I’m going to sue the hound out of every one of them.”
Whitley County Judge-Executive Mike Patrick said he doesn’t think the fiscal court has done anything to necessitate a lawsuit, or that would bring one about.
“I am aware of the statutes. The jailer is in charge of the jail,” Patrick said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
Whether Sexton has the power to actually hire and fire employees even after the fiscal court’s resolution last week, is a question probably best left to the county attorney, who is out of town, Patrick said.
In terms of Sexton being able to hire and fire employees, Patrick said Sexton, “probably needs to work through the jailer to get those things accomplished at this point. It is kind of a joint effort in my opinion.”
Taylor said that while Sexton was hired to work on non-compliance issues at the jail, he has been working on other matters, which he thinks is a problem.
“He has done everything except stay on non-compliance issues,” Taylor said. ”
For instance, Taylor said Sexton ordered employees to close the “bean hole” in the cellblock doors at night, or the hole where food trays are passed to prisoners.
Taylor said if the cell is a hot cell, and the “bean hole” is closed that it makes it even hotter, and that is why he wants to keep the holes open at night.
“If you close that ‘bean hole’ then what’s hot becomes unbearable, if you are in one of those hot cells to begin with,” Taylor said. “None of those non-compliances referred to cutting their televisions off at night. In cutting their televisions off, you are turning off their coffee pots, and they have no electricity whatsoever in the cell. He wasn’t aware of that until I got done talking to him.”
Taylor said Sexton doesn’t like the fact that he gives inmates so many privileges.
“He doesn’t like the fact that they have canteen every night, and this and that. This isn’t in the non-compliance items,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the inmates won’t follow Sexton’s instructions so the jail can get into compliance as long as “he is treating them like he is treating them,” such as cleaning stuff on the tables that they aren’t supposed to.
In an interview with members of the press, Taylor also announced Friday that former Chief Deputy Jailer Jerry Allen Taylor had left to take a new job, and that he had named long time employee Greg Petrey as the new chief deputy jailer.
During the interview, Taylor also addressed several other issues concerning the jail, which have come up in the past several weeks.

Budget situation
Taylor said the county’s budget woes weren’t because of the jail or at least not entirely, but rather because the fiscal court actually finished last year’s fiscal year in the red, despite reports that the county finished in the black.
“They finished slightly in the black because we couldn’t buy a loaf of bread. We couldn’t buy anything. Southeastern Janitorial in Corbin wouldn’t bring us any cleaning supplies or nothing,” Taylor said. “I knew why he (Patrick) ended the year slightly in the black because they hadn’t paid their bills up to date. Had they paid their bills, they would have been way over.”
Taylor said the jail is bringing in significant revenue from housing Knox County prisoners to the tune of over $800,000 through the end of May.
“It’s not that this jail that’s costing them. It is everything else that is costing them,” Taylor said.
He said the jail is no longer housing female inmates from McCreary County.
Taylor said that if the fiscal court followed the budget he presented, then he thinks there will be enough money in the jail’s budget for the coming fiscal year to operate the jail, but he said he doesn’t know if the fiscal court will accept that budget.
He added that while the county has wanted to cut his staff, Patrick has five employees working in his office, and isn’t willing to cut any of them.

Beds not used
Taylor said that following the May hearing before the state correction’s cabinet, the jail ceased using 32 beds in one portion of the jail
The portion of the jail in question had been designed class ‘D’ felons for the state, and didn’t have locks on the cell doors because such inmates go out on work release during the day.
The county doesn’t house those types of inmates, and Taylor said he had been housing trustees in that portion of the jail with the male prisoners on one side, and the female prisoners on the other.
“They are working, but they are working inside the jail rather than outside. We were just housing our trustees back there, but we had to move them out, and overcrowd our existing cells with those people. Those 32 beds are just sitting back there now,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the jail receives 50 cents more per inmate per day by housing Knox County prisoners than they would by housing state inmates.
“If we were to house one state inmate, then we would be open to house them all,” Taylor said. “I think that Whitley County is suited for just exactly what we are operating right now.”
Taylor said at this time that he doesn’t plan to house state prisoners in that area of the jail.

Regional jail
Taylor claims that the state is trying to turn the Whitley County Detention Center into a regional jail.
“They are just using all this other stuff as a front. They are trying to make this jail a regional jail that is what it is all about. That is why they don’t want to fill those 32 beds down there,” Taylor said.
Would turning the Whitley County Detention Center into a regional jail be a good idea for the county?
“That all depends on the way you look at it,” Taylor said. “Would the people of Whitley County want inmates brought in here from northern Kentucky, or western Kentucky? Every few days we get a call from Indiana or West Virginia or some place like that wanting to know if we can house inmates for them. They would like to bus them in here.
“If you are talking about that kind of situation, I don’t think the people of Whitley County wants it under no circumstances. I’d much rather deal with Knox County, and McCreary County, and local people. They are our type of people. In spite of what they are charged with, the majority of them are trustworthy. I can name you about four people in this jail right now that I wouldn’t want to be behind an unlocked door.
“It’s not that they would hurt anybody, but they would sure take off because they are charged with a serious crime. 99 percent of the people in this jail would not leave if they had the choice because they don’t want to face the consequences.”

Work program
Taylor said the fiscal court has mentioned implementing a work program involving county prisoners, which he said he would be glad to work with the fiscal court on if they ‘work with me one-third of the way.”
“I don’t have any problems with work release. I could work inmates out of this jail right now on work release, if the county would insure them, and provide a way for them to get out there on the highways,” Taylor said. “There is something that the fiscal court is forgetting. The fiscal court doesn’t tell these inmates where to work.
“They don’t have a man to go out there with them. They don’t do it. The jailer does. The jailer is in control of his inmate. He’s the man that goes out, and selects where they work at.”
Taylor said he hasn’t had the time to implement such a program, or been given a chance to by the fiscal court.
Taylor added that allegations by Operation Unite that three of his family members were planning to sell drugs at the Whitley County Jail is a “flat out lie.”
“Why would they talk about it. Why wouldn’t they be down there indicting Jerry Taylor if I was involved in some kind of conspiracy?” Taylor said.