In a scathing report from the Kentucky Department of Corrections, it was found that over the course of a year, a dozen employees were involved in illegal and inappropriate relationships with inmates and others who they were supposed to be supervising.
The 800-page report, obtained and analyzed by the Lexington Herald Leader, says about 30 employees were caught red-handed in a slew of policy violations. We’re talking beyond the typical excessive force complaint. About 14 of them were alleged to have smuggled drugs inside the state prisons ranging from pills to straight up meth. They were also alleged to have done it in exchange for money from both inmates and their families.
Oh, but it get’s even worse.
There were several cases cited in the report of employees having sex with or sexually abusing inmates. In one lawsuit from 2023, the chaplain of Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex was accused of sexual abuse and bragging about how he got away with it. He was charged criminally. In another incident, a correctional officer was charged with third-degree rape after being caught having sex with an inmate at Kentucky State Penitentiary. Though the report says the inmate argued that it was consensual, it is still against the law to consent to sex with corrections officers.
Some officers were even reported to get in full fledged relationships with or even get pregnant by individuals on probation. The “Good morning, beautiful” text messages told it all.
Read more of the offenses from the Lexington Herald Leader:
Less frequent employee problems identified by investigators included racial and sexual harassment; dereliction of duty; excessive force; and abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs. There also were findings of assorted misconduct, such as horseplay on duty, falsifying reports, indecent exposure and sharing confidential information with inmates.
But the most common trouble the Department of Corrections faced is employees crossing the line by getting too close to inmates, either through inappropriate relationships or smuggling.
From the 140 investigations that were born from this scandal, 62 corrections employees were either fired or quit and in 29 cases, employees received discipline but nothing beyond extra training and reprimands.
The cases were followed over a 16-month period ending in November of 2023, the report says.
“We handle every piece of information the same, whether that be contraband or a relationship or whatever. The truth of the matter is, if we were not handling these situations in a very aggressive manner, the numbers would not be what they were,” said Scott Jordan, deputy commissioner of adult institutions to the Herald-Leader.
Well, thanks to the officers swept into the investigation, the whole corrections department is short-staffed. Who knows what will go down in the prisons now...