Kentucky State Jails
The state of Kentucky was founded on the 1st of June, 1792 and was the fifteenth state to be formed in the United States. Being spread over an area of 40,411 square miles, it is the 37th biggest state in America. The state of Kentucky is also the 25th most populated states in America, having a population of 4,041,769. West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois are all the states that touch the border of Kentucky. There are one hundred and nineteen counties in the state of Kentucky. The major industries of Kentucky are chemical manufacturing, truck and automobile manufacturing, whiskey manufacturing, horse-raising, mining, and agriculture which mainly comprises of wheat, peanuts, corn and tobacco.
The Kentucky State Jail is under the Kentucky Department of Corrections. The Kentucky State Penitentiary is also given the name of the ‘Castle on the Cumberland’. It is situated in Eddyville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Prison is the oldest prison in the United States which was completed in the year 1886. The Kentucky Prison houses both the state’s execution facility as well as the male death row prisoners. The Kentucky State Jail has the capacity of holding up to 856 prisoners. Out of these 856 prisoners, mostly two – thirds are white whereas the remaining one – third are blacks. The Kentucky State Jail employees almost 350 employees and runs on an annual budget of around sixteen million dollars.
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The prisoners in Kentucky are distinguished by the color of their uniforms. Most of them wear a khaki uniform while those in protective custody are made to wear a green color uniform. The death row inmates are required to wear a bright red colored uniform whereas the segregated inmates are required to wear canary yellow colored uniforms. The security inmates are required to wear a dark green uniform. The security inmates have more privileges than the others since they are allowed to wander outside the boundaries of the institution and are mostly given other work to do. They are even allowed to go fishing in the Barkley Lake that flows nearby. The law requiring inmates to wear striped clothing was ended in the year 1909. After that they were given the permission to dress in their casual clothes however they had to get their numbers stenciled on their backs. To punish any prisoner in jail the ball and chain is used. The only problem with the Kentucky jail is that there were very few correctional officers. This was because their pay scale was very low.
