Services
County Champion
SPOTLIGHT
County Jail Resources
2026 Legislative Priority: Reshaping the Shared Responsibility of County Jails
Kentucky county jails are at a crisis point, with fiscal court subsidies rising more than 76% in six years and counties forced to raise taxes or cut essential services just to keep their facilities operating.
Rep. Michael Meredith has filed HB 557, our comprehensive jails proposal.
HB 557 Social Media Toolkit
Voicing support for HB 557 on your official social media platforms sends a strong message to legislators, the media and your community about the importance of passing this comprehensive jail bill. When posting your message, consider tagging your state representative and senator.
By adopting a resolution in support of HB 557, your fiscal court can add to a growing statewide call for reform and help move this legislation forward.
County Jails 101
County jails are a fundamental responsibility of county government in Kentucky, mandated by state law (KRS 441.025). This law requires counties to provide for the incarceration of individuals arrested within their county.
Counties have three main options for fulfilling their legal obligation to house inmates:
- Operating their own county jail,
- Establishing a regional jail with one or more additional counties, or
- Contracting with another county to use its jail facility.
Understanding the county jail funding system
The cost of county jails is the most significant budgetary challenge faced by most fiscal courts – regardless of whether the county operates a jail or contracts with other counties. In FY2023, counties spent almost $350 million on jails (excludes Fayette and Jefferson).
The state helps offset some of these costs by providing funding through base allocations and reimbursing counties for housing state inmates.Learn more here.
County Jail News
