Investigating the concerning issues plaguing Kentucky's juvenile detention system
These articles reveal systemic issues within Kentucky's juvenile detention system, highlighting incidents of abuse, neglect and understaffing. They discuss misconduct by staff and the resulting legal and ethical implications.
NO. 1: KY JUVENILE JUSTICE GUARD FACES FELONY CHARGE OVER TEXTS, PICS SENT TO TEEN GIRL
A Kentucky juvenile justice guard is accused of texting sexually lewd messages and pictures of his genitals in May to an underaged teen girl who had been held at the Boyd County detention center where he worked and who was returned to that facility the next day. | Published October 10, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 2: HOW A KY JUVENILE JUSTICE GUARD KEPT HIS JOB DESPITE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CHARGES
A Kentucky juvenile justice guard charged in August with sexting a 14-year-old girl who had been in state custody also had a recent history of domestic violence charges that involved him slapping, punching, choking and threatening to slash a woman’s throat with a steak knife. | Published October 27, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 3: ‘HE DOES NOT FEEL SAFE.’ IN KY JUVENILE JAIL, SOME SCARED YOUTHS REFUSE TO LEAVE CELLS
Teen boys at the state-run juvenile detention center in Adair County seek voluntary protective custody to avoid attack. | Published July 24, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 4: TEEN SUES KY JUVENILE JUSTICE GUARD OVER BROKEN ARM AT PADUCAH DETENTION CENTER
A teenage boy is suing a guard accused of shattering his arm in a state-run juvenile detention center last October during an encounter that led to the guard’s firing and arrest on felony abuse charges. | Published August 6, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 5: KY JUVENILE JUSTICE OFFICER, QUICKLY FIRED, SAYS SHE WASN’T TRAINED FOR THE JOB
A rookie correctional officer who was fired from the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice last month for threatening to pepper spray a teen boy while he was locked in his cell says she regrets her actions, but she was overworked and not given the necessary training or supervision to do a difficult job. | Published August 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 6: DESPITE TURNOVER, FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO KY JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTERS CONTINUES
The U.S. | Published August 30, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 7: FORMER KY JUVENILE JUSTICE GUARD FINED $5K FOR INAPPROPRIATE CONTACT WITH GIRL
The Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission on Wednesday fined a former juvenile justice guard $5,000 for engaging in “inappropriate physical contact” with a girl who was housed at the Campbell Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Newport two years ago. | Published September 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 8: KY JUVENILE JUSTICE STAFF SKIP SAFETY CHECKS ON YOUTHS, FALSIFY OBSERVATION LOGS
Staff at Kentucky’s juvenile detention centers routinely skip the mandatory every-15-minutes visual safety checks of youths who are locked alone in cells, and they falsify paperwork afterward to make it appear they performed those checks, according to a Herald-Leader investigation. | Published October 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
NO. 9: TN PRISON WARDEN RESIGNS AFTER HERALD-LEADER STORY DISCLOSES HER KY PRISON BACKGROUND
A Tennessee state prison warden has resigned following recent disclosures by the Lexington Herald-Leader that she sent sexually explicit messages to an inmate in 2023 while working in a Kentucky state prison. | Published August 5, 2025 | Read Full Story by John Cheves
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.