This is really one for the books. The Whitley County Jail-the new, roughly 18 month or so old Whitley County Jail-has been ordered closed by the kentucky State Department of Health, because-it-is--------FILTHY!
Now how does a new, presumably modern housing facility buildt with maybe a combination of state and federal funds, but at least with state and county funds, become filthy in under two years. Well, we can assume it was never or rarely cleaned, and that the plumbing, if you can stand the thoughts of it, was allowed to degenerate, and then to remain, in a state of disrepair.
Because of this sorry state of affairs, the jailer, and his son too, have been indicted, though I'm unsure as to what the charge exactly is. But get this, they have each posted bond in the amount of 100,000 dollars. Now, either that jailers job pays a hell of a lot more in Whitley County than is normally the case elsewhere, or I'm starting to get some pretty good ideas where the money meant for the upkeep of the county jail vanished to. Why exactly the money was not immediately confiscated may have something to do with the fact that it may have been so throughly laundered as to be untraceable. Frankly, though, I figure more than likely nobody in Whitley County, or the State, really thought to check, or bothered to do so if they did.
The Sheriff, however, has made it clear, no matter what you do in Whitley County, as long as this situation is allowed to continue, you will not be arressted. There is simply no place to put anybody, and all other jails in neighboring counties are filed up. They will not, cannot, take any more prisoners from outside their own areas.
Of course, the State Police have stated they will continue to make arrests and will find places to house their prisoners, and when the situation is cleared up and the jail is reopened, naturally any crimes that have been committed in the meantime will probably be backtracked, and tracked down. The most serious ones, anyway. But in the meantime, it's more or less wide open, and thus a perfect breeding ground for potential vigilantism.
Does anybody still wonder why Kentucky is so often ridiculed by the country as a whole?
