Four inmates have escaped from a Madison County facility in the last year. How?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Four inmates escaped from the Madison County halfway house in 14 months.
- Center offers job training, certifications and sentence-reduction programs.
- Some inmates gain positions post-release, while others flee before parole.
In the past 14 months, at least four inmates have walked away from a state-owned halfway house in Madison County, most recently on Sunday when a 28-year-old man escaped.
The center, the Bluegrass Career Development Center, exists to give inmates job training and help them rejoin society after incarceration. It’s located next to a regional recycling facility on Recycle Drive in Richmond. It has 88 beds and was built by a charitable corporation with the recycling facility, which is contracted with the Kentucky Department of Corrections to provide housing, care and programming for qualified state inmates, parolees and probationers.
The corporation and DOC entered into the contract in June 2008.
In 2009, the corporation established the Bluegrass Regional Recycling Corporation Career Development Program, which offers a variety of certification courses to the inmates.
Inmates close to their parole eligibility date and who have obtained their community custody qualification are eligible to be housed in the center, or 17 other halfway houses across the state. Staff work with the residents 24/7 to provide them with resources to reintegrate into the community, according to the website.
The level of security associated with the center is unknown.
Inmates have access to the recycling training center, which processes recyclables for various county and city government affiliates and local community partners.
Other certifications available to inmates include culinary courses, Bobcat and forklift training and 10 general industry courses from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The program also includes a DOC-approved educational component that can reduce a sentence by up to 90 days per course.
“The BRRC’s Career Development Program is dedicated to encouragement of the poor and humble in spirit so as to realize God’s call on their lives to be creative, active members of society, prepared to live in dignity while contributing their unique gifts to their community,” the corporation said of the program on its website.
The center was housing 32 inmates as of Tuesday morning, according to the DOC inmate database. Most of the inmates are serving sentences for drug convictions.
The center is one of 18 statewide that are part of the Kentucky Division of Probation and Parole’s Reentry Service Center program for inmates who have obtained their community custody qualification and are near their parole eligibility date.
A spokesperson for the DOC and the center did not return a request for comment.
Tom Jones, chief deputy of the Madison County Detention Center, said the local jail does not house any of the program’s inmates.
Four inmates escaped in 14 months
The center said its program participants go on to get jobs assisting local governments and nonprofit organizations.
But over the past 14 months, it’s also been the site of several escapes.
The most recent instance of an inmate escaping from the center happened over the weekend. Kentucky State Police previously said 28-year-old Jarod Barnes, who was serving time for engaging in organized crime and drug charges, walked away from the center Sunday.
As of Tuesday morning, Barnes was still on the run.
Three inmates escaped from the same facility in less than a month last spring. On April 14, 2024, Louis Jones, 38 of Grayson, walked away from the center while serving a sentence for theft, first-degree criminal mischief and second-degree arson.
It was unclear if Jones was ever found. DOC records do not list Jones as an active inmate.
About two weeks after Jones’ escape, Cody Hatfield, 27 from Shepherdsville, walked away from the center while serving a sentence for third-degree burglary and engaging in organized crime. Court documents indicate he was arrested in Oldham County on July 22, 2024, and charged with second-degree escape.
Hatfield pleaded guilty to the charge in April of this year and was sentenced to a year in prison, according to court documents. He is now being held at the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange, a medium-security prison about 30 miles northeast of Louisville.
Then on May 6, 2024, Tyler Branstetter, 38 of Glasgow, walked away from the center while serving a sentence for multiple drug-related charges, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and tampering with physical evidence. Court documents indicate Branstetter was arrested in Metcalfe County on Aug. 12, 2024, and charged with second-degree escape.
Branstetter pleaded guilty to the charge in January of this year and was sentenced to a year in prison, according to court documents. He is now being held at the Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville, a medium-security prison in eastern Kentucky.
