Officials from McCracken County met with state officials in Frankfort Tuesday to discuss solutions to long-time issues with the halfway house in Paducah. The privately owned facility allows inmates who are about to end their prison sentence transition back into society. McCracken County commissioner Bill Bartleman says over the last five years, more than 160 inmates have walked away or escaped - and an additional 600 inmates violated rules and returned to prison. He says two escapes in the past month resulted in car theft, a burglary and the assault of a police officer.
“A lot of incidences that have happened have endangered the public and my fear is that it’s a tragedy waiting to happen," he said. "It’s just time something needs to be done.”
Bartleman says Justice Secretary John Tilley and Deputy Commissioner of Adult Institutions James Erwin say the Paducah house is the only facility of its kind in the state surrounded by a residential neighborhood. He and other local officials want the owners, Keeton Corrections, to move. He says officials are also asking the inmates stop being sent to the halfway house until the problems can be addressed.
