KRS 67A.028: Legislative finding of fact -- Correctional services division permitted --

Duties of sheriff and jailer.

(1) The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky determines as a

legislative finding of fact that the needs of large urban areas in the f ield of

detention, institutionalization, and rehabilitation of offenders and public wards are

more specialized, acute, and distinct than the needs of smaller communities, and

require programs peculiarly suited to the needs of large, urban areas, and that i n

order to protect, enhance, and maintain the public safety, health, and general

welfare, it is necessary that legislative bodies of counties containing an urban -

county government, where the constitutional offices of sheriff and jailer have been

consolidated, be empowered to create correctional services divisions which shall be

divisions of urban -county government, and which will be vested with the duty,

responsibility, and power to maintain and operate all of the correctional, detention,

and rehabilitative facilities of these counties in a professional and competent

manner.

(2) A correctional services division may be established by ordinance of the legislative

body of any county containing an urban -county government in which the

constitutional offices of sh eriff and jailer have been consolidated as provided in

Section 105 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A division

shall, upon its creation, have all of the duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of the

sheriff and jailer as set forth an d contained in the Kentucky Revised Statutes, with

reference to the operation and maintenance of the county jail and all county

correctional facilities. The sheriff and jailer shall, notwithstanding any other

statutory provision to the contrary, have no fu rther responsibility, duty, and liability

for the performance of statutory duties on a personal basis. The sheriff shall be

required to annually inspect all county correctional facilities and render a written

report to the urban -county government legislative body and to the commissioner of

the Department of Corrections regarding the general operation of all correctional

facilities. The report shall furnish, in detail, information regarding the number of

prisoners, detainees, and public wards who are inmates of each correctional facility;

the offenses or causes for their incarceration; the length of stay; and further reports

regarding rehabilitative programs instituted and being carried on by the division as

may be required for a complete accounting and report.

(3) The correctional services division shall, subject to the approval and authorization of

the legislative body of the urban -county government, generally administer, operate,

and maintain all county correctional facilities, and formulate and implement

necessary correctional and rehabilitative programs. All employees of the division,

including the director, shall be members of the classified civil service system

established pursuant to KRS 67A.210 et seq.