By Nadia Ramlagan
Public News Service
New data shows incarceration has ballooned in Kentucky’s rural counties and less populated regions are building more jails.
The findings come from an analysis of jail-offenses data by the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative. Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist for the organization, said small towns and counties pour a huge amount of public resources into arrests for minor offenses. She added that those same counties are doubling down on policing and prosecution policies.
“Incarceration is a costly business,” she said. “It is extremely destabilizing for people who go to jail, and it may or may not actually do anything to improve public safety.”
The average county in Kentucky had about 12,000 people incarcerated in 2019. That number has decreased to around 10,000 in 2024, according to the Kentucky Association of Counties.
Across the country, Bertram said, most counties see jails as a place to hold people charged with low-level offenses or misdemeanors.
“Two thirds of people are being held on charges that did not involve physical violence against another person,” she said.
According to federal data from 2023, 20% of people in jails were held for misdemeanors. According to the Jail Data Initiative, the actual number of people in jails that year for non-violent offenses is closer to 35%.