Request By:
Mr. James Summitt
Oldham County Jailer
Courthouse
LaGrange, Kentucky 40031
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You write us concerning parole violators, who are lodged in county jails with detainers awaiting hearings or a warrant from the parole board.
First, you ask whether the jailer can make them trustees. As jailer, you have the custody, rule and charge of the jail and of all persons in the jail. KRS 71.020 and 71.040. Here we assume the parole violators are lawfully committed to you for the purposes you mentioned. See KRS 439.430 and 439.440. We know of no statute prohibiting your making a "trusty" out of such prisoner. However, you must take reasonable precautions concerning the security of such prisoner. In 72 C.J.S., Prisons, § 18, page 872, it is written that "Ordinarily, a jailer or like prison official is vested with a certain amount of discretion with respect to the safe-keeping, security, and discipline of his prisoners; and his acts, in this respect, should be upheld, if reasonably necessary to effectuate the purpose of imprisonment . . . ." See also 60 Am.Jur.2d, Penal and Correctional Institutions, § 9, page 814.
Secondly, you ask who has jurisdiction over these parole violators. Assuming they are not charged with a new crime, the detention of the parolee is for the benefit of the Secretary of Corrections and the parole board. If they believe the parolee should be returned to corrections facilities, the board can issue a warrant upon which the parolee shall be returned to the state prison system. Otherwise, the prisoner shall be released upon the order of the Secretary of Corrections. See KRS 439.430.
You say thirdly that the courts could handle some parole violators. That is true, where a new criminal offense is charged.
Lastly, you do not understand why a parole violator's time in jail does not count on the service of his sentence in prison. Under KRS 439.344 the period of time spent on parole shall not count as a part of the prisoner's maximum sentence except in determining the parolee's eligibility for a final discharge from parole as set out in KRS 439.354.
Technically, it would appear, in the absence of an explicit statute to the contrary, that until the parolee is actually back in the state prison, he is still out on parole as relates to the effect of parole time on his sentence. Cf. Brock v. Sowders, Ky., 610 S.W.2d 591 (1981).