No jail in the county. Paid $69k per year.

Several other counties like that.

You read the Louisville Courier-Journal this weekend? Huge article on jailers.

 

Kentucky is the only state in which it's an elected position and 41 counties have jailers and no jail.

There isnt any crime in Harlan Co so they dont need jails.

I think I heard that it would take a Constitutional Amendment to get rid of them in those counties without a Jail.

To be fair in some counties without a Jail the Jailer transports prisoners from jail in the neighboring county back to that county for court. That in and of itself would be a lot in some counties.

 

But it does seem that in most of the counties it is a huge waste.

No jail in the county. Paid $69k per year.

 

Pay is set by the state for county wide elected positions such as Jailer, County Judge, Sheriff, County Court Clerk...Counties with bigger populations pay more.

Harlan County is not alone:

 

They Collect Full Salaries, But These Kentucky Officials Have Little to Do | The River City News

 

 

Counties without a local jail either put arrestees in a regional jail or else transport them to a neighboring county jail that has agreed to house them. All 41 no-jail counties still have an elected jailer, which in Kentucky alone is a constitutional office.

Those counties are scattered around the state but generally are rural and among the least populous. More than a third are in eastern Kentucky, and many of those are financially strapped, periodically grappling with the possibility of cutbacks in basic services while paying thousands of dollars to jailers who, in the eyes of many, don’t earn their keep.

 

“More than 80 percent of the nation’s jails are run by sheriffs,” said Michael Jackson, a program specialist with the National Institute of Corrections in Washington, D.C. “Kentucky’s the only state that has elected jailers.”

All told, the state’s 41 no-jail jailers are paid nearly $1.4 million annually for their county positions. And that figure doesn't include salaries of the nearly 100 full- and part-time deputies they employ. Some of these deputies are wives, sons or daughters of the jailers.

 

The deputies’ pay pushes the total yearly outlay for jail staff close to $2 million.

 

Several of the no-jail jailers also work other jobs, at least a few of which are full time. That substantially increases their income but also raises more questions about whether the voters who elected them are getting their money’s worth.

To be fair in some counties without a Jail the Jailer transports prisoners from jail in the neighboring county back to that county for court. That in and of itself would be a lot in some counties.

 

But it does seem that in most of the counties it is a huge waste.

 

$69K's worth?

 

$69K's worth?

 

The county probably saves a lot of money by not having a jail, even with the salary of the jailer.

$69K's worth?

 

That is a lot I agree especially if they only transport a couple of days a week for court.

 

Our Local Jail doesn't even do that, the Sheriffs Office's Court Security Officers (CSO) have to transport between Jail and Court.

I read the article. It seems crazy that in one town a jailer gets a budget for two assistant jailers and the Sheriff doesn't have a budget for any.

 

This is a huge waste of taxpayer money and in a county without a jail we should put these duties on the sheriff office.

 

At the very least there is no reason for the elected office in those counties and the funds could be transfered to Sheriff office to hire someone to handle these duties to allow more oversight from the sheriff.

According to kentoncouty.org the position of jailer is required by Kentucky's Constitution. The site listed ch 71 and 446.00 in the KRS as the place to look for information.

Constitutional waste, what a concept. I think I'll move to Harlan Co when I retire.

Two constitutional changes I can think of, the Governor and Lt. Governor are elected as a team, not separately and the Commissioner of Education is no longer an elected position. Our 1891 Constitution needs some more updating.