KY lawmakers eye ‘prison campus’ aimed at educating, training inmates
Two Kentucky lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a proposal to create a campus for prisoners in the commonwealth to obtain higher education and job training.
Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy and Sen. Brandon Storm, R-London, told the Interim Joint Committee of Judiciary they plan to file a bill in the upcoming legislative session to expand prison-based education with a campus for incarcerated Kentuckians, in partnership with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
The Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary includes members of the state Senate and House who study and make recommendations on matters related to the courts, criminal justice and other judicial matters when the General Assembly is not in session. They can draft and approve bills to be pre-filed before the next regular session.
The proposal would include a 51,000-square-foot facility that could accommodate 400 inmates who are “low-risk offenders with high-commitment,” Decker said.
The proposal is modeled after a Michigan reentry program that focuses on education and training. KCTCS already provides associate and bachelor’s degree opportunities for people serving sentences in nine state prisons and one federal prison, but the proposal would offer a single campus at one prison.
The selective program would require inmates from across Kentucky’s 14 state prisons to qualify and apply for participation, and to maintain good behavior and success if selected. Upon selection, inmates would be enrolled as students in KCTCS.
Specific curriculum includes advanced manufacturing technology, welding, diesel mechanics, electric lineman technician, heavy equipment operations, and computer engineering technology to name a few.
This proposed center, Decker said, would promote education and workforce in the state and reduce recidivism among prisoners who will eventually reenter society.
Since 2022, of the nearly 13,000 people released from state custody, 8,930 have not returned, according to the state’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
Kentucky’s current recidivism rate of 30.8% is two percentage points lower than in 2021, but up more than three percentage points from 2020.
Decker told her colleagues Thursday that the proposal should not be perceived as “soft-on-crime” legislation, as inmates would be required to serve out their full sentences.
“We propose nothing but the highest and best use of time that they spend incarcerated to ensure they become accountable citizens to the community that they return to,” Decker said.
Ryan Quarles, president of KCTCS and a former lawmaker, said the bill should be viewed as a workforce development effort rather than a criminal justice one.
The group has already eyed a potential construction site at the Northpoint Training Center in Boyle County.
In all, 325 businesses have expressed readiness to help people seeking a second chance after leaving Kentucky prisons.
This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM.
