Jails crowded, Kentucky reconsiders private prisons

As jails across the commonwealth run out of beds amid a logjam of state prisoners, Kentucky officials are considering a controversial return to private prisons.

"This is not a decision we can make overnight," said Corrections Commissioner Rodney Ballard, who toured Kentucky's vacant private prisons this summer. "All our options are still on the table."

Kentucky is grappling with an 18 percent rise in its prison population since 2013, according to a recent Pew Charitable Trusts presentation, which has helped overwhelm jails around the state, including Jefferson County’s. The state says its roughly 11,700-bed prison system has been coping with around 23,640 prisoners - about half of whom are held in county jails.

State officials see private prisons as a potential, temporary fix, but experts say those institutions entail significant risks even when used only as a short-term solution.

Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2016/10/08/jails-crowded-ky-reconsiders-private-prisons/91533296/