WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. (AP) — Grant County’s fiscal court has voted to close the county’s only jail after the latest fight between the judge-executive’s office and the jail administration.
News outlets report the fiscal court unanimously voted Tuesday to close the jail, which has been plagued by inmate lawsuits, personnel lawsuits, prisoner escapes and maintenance issues for more than a decade.
Officials have four months to find a new jail for 72 county prisoners and 226 state prisoners.
The jail’s impending closure is the culmination of an 18-month-long feud between Judge-Executive Steve Wood and Jailer Chris Hankins.
Bill Adkins, a lawyer for some of the jail employees, called the court’s decision personal.
Wood says the fiscal court closed the jail after the jailer refused to house 69 state prisoners, depriving the county of state revenue.