Cruel pranks, broken bones, sexual harassment: A recent history of KY juvenile justice
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Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice
The Herald-Leader has reported on serious problems inside the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice for more than four years.
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The Lexington Herald-Leader has reported for more than four years on serious problems inside the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice, and the revelations helped trigger a federal civil rights investigation.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January and scaled back civil rights cases, the DOJ has declined to comment on the status of this investigation.
Here are some recent stories from just the past nine months.
Sept. 23, 2024: An asthmatic teen boy in one of Kentucky’s juvenile detention centers was unjustifiably pepper sprayed twice in the face on June 12 as he passively stood with his hands at his sides, refusing to enter his cell, according to documents obtained by the Herald-Leader under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
Oct. 7, 2024: Kentucky juvenile justice guards laughed as they pranked an agitated teen boy in isolation who had “multiple psychiatric disorders” by remotely flushing his toilet without his knowledge and telling him that if he didn’t stop flushing his toilet, he would have to spend another 24 hours in isolation, according to documents obtained by the Herald-Leader.
Dec. 18, 2024: A small group of families, lawyers and others met in Lexington to share their complaints about abuses in Kentucky’s state-run juvenile detention centers with a team visiting from the U.S. Department of Justice. The meeting came after the Justice Department announced in May 2024 it’s conducting a civil rights investigation into how youths are treated in the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice’s eight detention centers.
Jan. 7, 2025: The longtime Adair County superintendent of Kentucky’s most controversial juvenile detention center resigned in November just ahead of getting fired after state officials said she failed to conduct important mental health assessments of the youths in her custody. She also wrongly accused a teen boy of getting a handcuff key from one of her guards, according to documents obtained by the Herald-Leader.
Jan. 28, 2025: Among the new cases of juvenile justice abuse documented by the Herald-Leader are a teen-aged boy who angrily broke his thumb when a guard’s joke went wrong; guards who laughed at an autistic boy after they pepper sprayed his genitals; and a guard who opened a boy’s cell door after bedtime to start a fistfight with him.
Feb. 18, 2025: Women who worked at the Fayette Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Lexington say their deputy manager sexually harassed employees for years without consequence, even after they reported him, according to state records obtained by the Herald-Leader under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
March 7, 2025: A former Kentucky juvenile detention center guard who is accused of breaking the arms of two different boys in custody in McCracken County on Oct. 12, 2024, was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree criminal abuse, a felony that carries up to five years in prison.
April 16, 2025: At least three rank-and-file state workers lost their jobs in March at Kentucky’s juvenile detention facility in Graves County amid investigations into employees who apparently had sex in the control room on multiple occasions and allowed an alleged fight club for youths in a classroom closet.
June 6, 2025: One of Kentucky’s most controversial juvenile detention centers flunked an annual inspection in May, as state officials cited the Adair County facility’s filthy conditions, broken equipment, youths languishing in cells for extended periods and poor documentation about the staff’s use of pepper spray and physical force.
July 24, 2025: At the state’s long-troubled juvenile detention center in Adair County, recently called “a nightmare for its kids” in a pending whistle-blower lawsuit, youths sometimes ask to remain in their cells because they fear being attacked by other youths if they emerge, according to incident reports obtained by the Herald-Leader.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated since its initial publication to include additional instances at DJJ facilities.
This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
