Local Leaders Hope Keeton Facility Moves or Closes

Three elected officials from the city and county held a press conference Tuesday evening to share their impressions from a meeting earlier in the day with state corrections officials about problems with a Paducah halfway house.

McCracken County Commissioners Scott Wathen and Bill Bartleman, along with Paducah City Commissioner Richard Abraham, spoke at the county courthouse about what they agreed was a positive meeting with John Tilley, Secretary of Justice and Public Safety, and two other state corrections officials. Bartleman arranged the meeting after a man walked away from Keeton Correction Facility on Clarence Gaines Street November 9, stole two cars and assaulted a Sheriff's Deputy. Another resident of the halfway house was arrested last week on a burglary charge.

Bartleman quoted state data about Keeton Correction from the Department of Corrections, showing that over the past five years, 1,645 inmates were assigned to the facility. In that period, 163 escaped, including 32 this year. In that same five-year period, 638 were sent back to prison for violating state laws. That means 801 people of the people who were sent to Paducah's halfway house were removed, which is just about 50 percent.

Bartleman said, "That's an alarming number. It's scary that that many people have violated rules and that many people have walked away from that facility."

He told the officials about how the neighborhood surrounding the facility has rebounded over the last 10-15 years. A place once called "the set," where criminal activity was commonplace has now become a residential area with two churches and a hotel, so Bartleman said the presence of the facility endangers the community and its progress.

Wathan stressed public safety with Tilley and James Erwin, Deputy Commissioner of Adult Institutions. He said the privately-run facility gets paid $34 per bed per day to house the prisoners, with 101 beds available and 76 currently being used. Wathen said he learned that on many nights there is only one person at the home to oversee all of those inmates. He said the threat of contraband and illegal activity is something we "don't need in this community."

Abraham said he learned this is the only facility of its kind in the state that is in a residential neighborhood, and that's alarming. He also said he was encouraged that officials told him they have been discussing the possibility of "moving away from this model," of how halfway houses are populated and operated. 

Abraham also said officials were interested in engaging more with local law enforcement, which is just a few blocks away, instead of always working with State Police when there is trouble. This might include "spot checks" by a McCracken County drug-sniffing dog or other searches for contraband. 

Bartleman asked Tilley to stop sending inmates to the halfway house until they can assure everyone that the neighborhood is safe, and all three men said they hope the facility would close, or at least move to another part of town. But Keeton is under a 2-year state contract to run the facility that won't renew until late 2018.

In the meantime, Bartleman said the officials are going to visit Paducah soon.

"They made a commitment that they will come down here within a week or two to meet with the operators of that facility and express our concerns and see what can be done to make sure it's safe, and make sure that the residents of that facility are better behaved, that they don't escape, they don't violate rules," Bartleman said. 

All three men said they were encouraged by how the officials listened, and believe they were legitimately concerned about the situation. Now that they have met face-to-face, local leaders say they intend to continue pressing corrections officials on the situation in the weeks and months to come.