Request By:
Mr. James E. Boyd
Franklin County Attorney
Courthouse
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You have requested the opinion of this office concerning county jail prisoners.
Question No. 1 reads:
Which elected public official is responsible for transporting prisoners incarcerated in the Franklin County Jail from the jail to a physician's office or to a medical facility?
Since the county jailer has the custody of the jail and all prisoners in the jail, under KRS 71.020, 71.030, and 71.040, he has the responsibility for the transporting of such prisoners from the jail to a physician's office or to a medical facility and their return to the jail. The county jailer's custodial responsibilities include keeping the prisoners safe and to protect them from unnecessary harm. Hall v. Midwest Bottled Gas Distributors, Inc., Ky., 532 S.W.2d 449 (1976). He must keep the prisoners comfortable and treat them humanely. The latter includes affording them the opportunity of medical help where needed.
KRS 441.500 relates to the sheriff's transporting county jail prisoners to and from the jail for trial purposes or between detention facilities. It does not include transportation of jail prisoners to a physician's office or medical facility.
Question No. 2 reads:
Which elected public official is responsible for guarding prisoners who have been admitted to a hospital by a physician's order or a court order?
The responsibility is on the immediate shoulders of the county jailer. If his deputy staff is insufficient for this purpose, the jailer will have to call on the fiscal court for help in providing security guards. The county's financial help, in that regard, would have to take the form of a properly budgeted item under KRS Chapter 68.
Question No. 3 reads:
Can a jailer refuse to accept a prisoner who is in obvious need of medical treatment and/or attention at the time of the prisoners admittance to the jail?
As jailer, he has the responsibility to receive an arrested person in the county jail where such person is lawfully committed to the jailer (either by order of the court or by request of the arresting officer where no magistrate is immediately available). If such arrested person is ill or needs medical attention, as a matter of humane treatment the county jailer must see to it that the prisoner gets proper medical attention. See KRS 71.040. The county jailer has no statutory basis for refusing to receive a prisoner on the ground that he is ill or needs medical attention. Under KRS 71.040 the jailer is required to receive and keep in the county jail "all persons who are lawfully committed thereto." (Emphasis added). The statute makes no provisions nor establishes any condition relating to an injured or sick person charged with crime. Thus the statute, KRS 71.040, must be construed in its literal aspects. Gilbert v. Greene, 185 Ky. 817, 216 S.W. 105 (1919). There are no adequate grounds for a departure from such literalism.