Kentucky. Corrections Cabinet

The Corrections Cabinet, as defined under KRS 196 and 197, is responsible for the management of penal, reform, and correctional institutions; supervision of probation and parole; and the administration and enforcement of jail standards, training of jail personnel, and jail planning and construction.

Within the cabinet are the offices of the Secretary, General Counsel, Corrections Training, Administrative Services, and the departments of Adult Institutions, and Community Services and Facilities. The cabinet is headed by a secretary, appointed by the governor, who serves on the governor's cabinet.

The first correctional facility in Kentucky was the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Frankfort, which in 1794 became the first penitentiary west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1825, the penitentiary and its inmates were leased to private individuals, known as lessees, in return for a percentage of profits from prison labor. In 1880, the lessee system was replaced by the warden system, but contract labor was continued until the 1920s. In 1890, the Kentucky Branch Penitentiary opened in Eddyville.

In 1888, the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund were given the authority to establish rules for the conduct and mangement of Kentucky Penitentiary. Convicts serving their first term, have good conduct records, and are not sentenced for rape or incest were eligible for parole. Murders were required to serve ten years prior to parole, and any parolee who did not leave the state was required to report to the commissioners every six months. The number of paroles granted was limited to five percent of the inmate population per year (Acts, ch. 1420, sec. 1).

Two additional correctional institutions were established by the General Assembly in 1896: House of Reform for Girls and the House of Reform for Boys, known as the Houses of Reform at Greendale (Acts, ch. 33, sec. 1). These were not administratively linked with the Kentucky State Penitentiary but had their own board of trustees, which consisted of six persons, three women and three men, appointed by the governor for six year terms.

The Board of Penitentiary Commissioners was created in 1898 to supervise the two state prisons (Acts, ch. 4, sec. 1). The board consisted of three members elected by the General Assembly. The board was to elect a warden for the State Penitentiary and the Branch Penitentiary, who administered the institutions under the board's supervision.

Previously the authority of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, the power to establish rules for the conduct and management of the Kentucky Penitentiaries and parole of the prisoners was given to the State Board of Prison Commissioners in 1900 (Acts, ch. 26, sec. 1). Murders were required to serve five years to be eligible for parole (Acts, ch. 26, sec. 2).

The duties of the board of trustees, which originally had jurisdiction over the Houses of Reform, were transferred in 1906 to the Board of Penitentiary Commissioners (Acts, ch. 14, sec. 1). The General Assembly also created the State Board of Control for Charitable Institutions to manage three insane asylums and the Feeble-Minded Institute at Frankfort. The board consisted of three members appointed by the governor (Acts, ch. 18, sec. 1).

In 1916, convicts were required by statute to serve half their sentence, except those sentenced for life (Acts, ch. 70, sec. 1). Life sentences reqired convicts to serve eight years before parole eligibility.

In 1918, the General Assembly abolished the Board of Penitentiary Commissioners and the State Board of Control for Charitable Institutions (Acts, ch. 24, sec. 2) and created the State Board of Control (Acts, ch. 54, sec. 1). The new board was to manage and supervise Kentucky's penal and charitable institutions. Composed of five members appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate, board members were not to participate in politics and were to work full-time on the duties of the State Board of Control.

In 1920, the General Assembly created a State Board of Charities and Corrections which was given the duties vested in the State Board of Control for the management and supervision of Kentucky's charitable and correctional institutions (Acts, ch. 7, sec. 1). The purpose of the new board was to establish a policy for the care and treatment of state wards and to coordinate the activities for those who came under the care, custody, or supervision of the state. The board consisted of eight members appointed by the governor. Its executive officer, known as the Commissioner of Public Institutions, was appointed by the board.

A board known as the Department of Public Welfare was established in 1932 (Acts, ch. 38, sec. 1). Composed of five members appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate, the board assumed the functions of the State Board of Charities and Corrections. The functions of the Commissioner of Institutions were transferred to the chair of the board of the Department of Public Welfare.

In the 1936 Governmental Reorganization Act, functions of the correctional and mental insitutions were combined with those of child welfare and public assistance under the new Department of Welfare. The department was separated into five divisions: public assistance, child welfare, mental hygiene, corrections, and laboratory criminal investigations and statistics (Acts, ch. 1, Art. XIII, sec. 2). The duties of the Department of Public Welfare relating to corrections were given to the new Division of Corrections (Acts, ch. 1, Art. XIII, sec. 6). The division, under the direction of the Commissioner of Welfare, was to supervise and administer the State Reformatory at Frankfort, the State Penitentiary at Eddyville, and the House of Reform at Greendale; supervise the employment of prisoners; and administer probation and parole.

A new probation law was also enacted in 1936. It required a written, pre-sentence investigation by a probation and parole officer on any defendant charged with a felony (Acts, ch. 30, sec. 2).

The Division of Probation and Parole, under the direction of the Commissioner of Welfare, was created in 1942 to make rules and regulations governing parolees (Acts, ch. 96, sec. 5).

In 1962, correctional functions were removed from the Department of Welfare and placed in the Department of Corrections (Acts, ch. 106. Art. X, sec. 2). Headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor, the newly-formed department administered correctional facilities and the probation and parole system.

In 1974, the General Assembly replaced the Department of Corrections with the Bureau of Corrections in the newly-created Department of Justice, which also contained the Bureau of State Police and the Bureau of Training (Acts, ch. 74, Art. V, sec 24(14). The Division of Probation and Parole was placed under the Bureau of Corrections (Acts, ch. 74, Art. V, sec. 24(15).

Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. directed the reorganization of the Department of Justice through Executive Order 81-706 in 1981. The order separated the Bureau of Corrections from the Department of Justice and created the Corrections Cabinet.

From the description of Agency history. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145414360