Drug contraband in Kentucky’s prisons remains rampant. One stands out among the rest
Drug smuggling in Kentucky’s prisons has become common, with nearly 10,000 incidents documented in the last five years, but one prison stands out from the rest.
Since 2021, Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in West Liberty has consistently ranked highest for smuggling reports among all Kentucky’s prisons, according to corrections data.
Among these reports, maintained by the state correction’s department, drugs and drug paraphernalia are the most trafficked form of contraband brought into Kentucky’s 14 prisons.
In total, 16,000 smuggling reports have been logged across Kentucky prisons, not just limited to drug contraband. Weapons, tattoo equipment and “correspondence” are also items found in smuggling reports.
By the numbers
State prisons appeared to cut into smuggling last year — it had the fewest number of smuggling reports on record since 2020, state data shows. There were 2,426 total contraband reports listed across all the 14 state facilities in 2025. Of those, a majority of the reports were listed as “drugs/intoxicants/syringe/syringe needle.”
The reports, provided to the Herald-Leader through an open records request, do not identify the drug or any details about how it was brought into a prison.
Drug contraband made up 56% of all contraband reports for 2025, according to state records. Weapons, tattoo equipment, tobacco products and lighters were also reported.
Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex had the highest number of contraband reports, as well as drug contraband reports, in 2025, according to state records.
In 2025, 36% of the state’s smuggling incidents came from EKCC, according to state data.
Smuggling at EKCC has, at times, involved staff and inmates alike. Former guards Dwayne Lee Skaggs, 34, and William Chester Caudill, 32, face criminal charges after allegedly participating in a scheme to smuggle drugs into the facility. They face charges of first-degree promoting contraband, first- and second-degree drug trafficking, official misconduct and engaging in organized crime.
Also charged in the alleged prison drug-smuggling scheme are two inmates, Challis Ray Davis, 44, and Shane A. Wilder, 42, as well as Wilder’s 70-year-old mother, Donnie G. Wilder. Davis and Shane Wilder already were serving time for burglary and meth-related convictions, but they since have been transferred to different state prisons.
Investigators found 55.5 grams of white crystal meth inside Caudill’s lunchbox and 800 strips of suboxone, a prescription medicine used to treat opioid withdrawal, according to an investigators’ report.
Investigators said they linked Skaggs and Caudill to a group of inmates and inmates’ relatives who paid the guards to smuggle drugs into Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex.
When asked about how EKCC, a maximum security prison, consistently had the highest rates of smuggling, a department spokesperson said that facility size, population type, and security level can result in higher attempts of contraband incidents.
Morgan Hall, the spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, said that EKCC houses some of the most violent offenders and has had a “significant decrease” in contraband so far for 2026.
From Jan. 1 to April 1, 2026, there were more than 1,000 smuggling reports made for all Kentucky facilities. Six percent of those reports originated from EKCC, according to department records.
The Herald-Leader asked why drugs entering the prisons was still a problem, but Hall did not answer the question. Instead, she said the department takes action to stop contraband from entering because it “undermines the integrity of the system.”
“The Department takes aggressive steps to control contraband from entering the facilities, including but not limited to, frisk searches, the use of body scanners, only allowing clear bags inside and putting them through the belt x-ray machine, and limiting the number of personal belongings that employees can bring to work, among other protocols,” Hall said in an emailed statement.
“The Department remains committed to protecting both inmates and correctional employees by continually evaluating and strengthening contraband prevention efforts,” Hall said.
