Request By:
Mr. David H. Bland
Executive Director
Kentucky Jailers Association
Route #2, McCowans Ferry Road
Versailles, Kentucky 40383
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You raise additional questions relating to county jail operations:
Question No. 1:
"Aren't the fiscal court and county judge executive jointly responsible with the jailer for the operation of the jail?
The jailer is immediately responsible in connection with the operation of a county jail. See KRS 71.020, vesting in the jailer the custody, rule and charge of the jail in his county and of all persons in the jail. See KRS 71.030 and 71.040, relating to his specific operational responsibilities. See
Hall v. Midwest Bottled Gas Distribs., Inc., Ky.App., 532 S.W.2d 449 (1975); and
Garvin v. Muir, Ky.App., 306 S.W.2d 256 (1957).
To "operate" means to "conduct" or "administer", to "carry on", to "cause to function", and to "run." Charlton Laird, Webster's New World Thesaurus, p. 423. The synonyms refer to administering, running or managing.
Clearly, under the above dictionary definitions and synonyms for "operate" (there is no applicable statutory definition in this context), the person who is required by law to operate a county jail on a day to day basis in his county is the county jailer, under the specific statutes cited above.
The fundamental rule of the courts for construing statutes is that language must be given its plain and ordinarily understood meaning.
Citizens' Telephone Co. v. City of Newport, 188 Ky. 629, 224 S.W. 187 (1920). Thus we have to look at pertinent jail statutes to determine the application of the meaning of "to operate", as defined in the dictionary, which is based upon the plain, ordinary, and usual meaning of the term.
In applying the dictionary definition of "operate" let us look at the county's role in connection with the county jail in the particular county.
Under KRS 441.006(1), "The fiscal court of each county shall provide for the incarceration of prisoners arrested in the county or sentenced or held by order of the courts in the county." (Emphasis added). Subsection (2) of KRS 441.006 provides that the fiscal court shall provide for the incarceration of prisoners by "providing and maintaining a jail in the county", or contracting with another county or city for the "incarceration and care" of its prisoners. (Emphasis added). Note that such responsibility of the fiscal court to provide a jail is mandatory.
The language of the above statute clearly suggests that the jailer and the fiscal court have a joint responsibility for the care and operation of the county jail in an institutional and operational sense. Thus the county's responsibility transcends the mere capital outlay responsibility for providing a jail building. The nature of this joint responsibility is reflected in other statutes in KRS Chapter 441.
First, KRS 441.008(1) requires the fiscal court, "in consultation with the jailer" , to adopt an operating budget for the jail, which jail budget is integrated with and a part of the county budget. (Emphasis added). The jailer receives a monthly salary from the "county jail operating budget. " (Emphasis added). KRS 441.009(1). The fiscal court may prescribe rules for the government and cleanliness of the county jail and the comfort and treatment of prisoners. KRS 441.010(1). Under KRS 441.012(4), the Corrections Cabinet is required to submit an annual written report of the findings of its inspections and the condition of the jail to the jailer and the fiscal court. The Corrections Cabinet is required to deliver its orders, relating to law violations, to both the jailer and the county judge executive. KRS 441.013(3). In addition, the Cabinet has been given statutory authority to enforce its orders against both the jailer and/or the fiscal court in the Franklin Circuit Court. In fact, KRS 441.014(2) reads:
"(2) When the cabinet, pursuant to KRS 441.013, orders a county jailer, if it is determined he is responsible, or the fiscal court, to correct or eliminate a violation of any state regulation or law pertaining to the operations and maintenance of jails and the county jailer or fiscal court does not take corrective action to the satisfaction of the cabinet within the time specified in the cabinet's order, then the secretary of the cabinet or his designee may request the Franklin County Circuit Court to enforce the orders of the cabinet. Any person who refuses to obey the orders of the court shall be held in civil contempt."
The jailer is required to submit a quarterly report to the fiscal court concerning physical conditions, the number of jail personnel and personnel needs and other matters requested by fiscal court. KRS 441.016(1).
All of the above statutory sections are interrelated and were enacted as parts of a single piece of jail legislation, and must be construed together and in harmony with each other.
Daviess County v. Snyder, Ky., 556 S.W.2d 688 (1977).
The answer to question no. 1 is that the jailer and fiscal court are jointly responsible for the operation of the jail. This calls for a close interaction with and cooperation between the jailer and the fiscal court if jails are to be operated properly and adequately under the law. The respective nature of that joint responsibility is outlined in the above cited statutory sections.
As the chief executive of the county, the county judge executive is required, when the fiscal court is not in session, to implement the policy and formal actions of the fiscal court relating to the fiscal court's joint responsibility with the jailer for the operation of the jail. See KRS 67.710. The county judge executive is also required to observe specific statutory directions concerning the jail operation. See, for example, KRS 441.008(1) and 68.240(1) (relating to the jail budget and the county judge executive's role) and KRS 441.013(3) (relating to violations of jail law or regulations and the county judge executive's role). Also under KRS 67.710, the county judge executive must keep the fiscal court informed as to the county jail operation and any attendant problems.
Question No. 2:
"As a county official, isn't the jailer as entitled to the legal counsel and representation of the county attorney as the fiscal court?"
Under KRS 69.210, the county attorney is just what the constitutional office implies, i.e., he is the attorney for the county as a political subdivision of the state in civil matters. His primary role concerns the fiscal court, as relates to the rights or interests of the county, including litigation for or against the county.
Under subsection (3) of that statute, he is required to give legal advice to the fiscal court members and "the several county officers," which latter group would include the jailer, in all matters concerning any county business within their jurisdiction. Where there is any conflict between advising a particular county officer and advising the county in its collective governmental sense, the county attorney must advise the county.
However, the county attorney is not automatically the attorney for the jailer in a strict and legal sense. He is always the attorney for the county. See