A Lexington city council member continues to raise questions about the status of staffing at the Fayette County Jail. Richard Moloney has, more than once, expressed concerns about corrections officer vacancies at the Old Frankfort Pike complex.
“When do we, do we need to panic, if we’ve got to panic because at a 150, 200 or how many have to be gone before we have to really be concerned,” said Moloney.
During Tuesday’s Council work session, Lexington Public Safety Commissioner Ken Armstrong said currently there are 112 corrections officer vacancies.
This past weekend inmate Christopher Lee Younger was found unresponsive and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Also, separately, an officer was injured after being assaulted by an inmate. Armstrong said investigations are underway.
“It’s still in the early stages of those two matters but staffing didn’t play any direct…wasn’t directly involved in either one of those matters,” said Armstrong.
Armstrong said there are 14 people in training for corrections officer positions with another six in the hiring process. The public safety commissioner said the population at the jail hovers around 1000. Armstrong said it has been as high as 14 to 15 hundred.
