Request By:
Ms. Arlene A. Jones
Deputy Judge-Executive
Boone County Fiscal Court
P.O. Box 77
Burlington, Kentucky 41005
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter raising a question concerning the hiring of an employe within the jail facility who is not twenty-one years of age. It is your understanding that a deputy jailer must be twenty-one years of age. You want to hire a person who would work within the jail complex performing clerical and other duties.
KRS 71.060 dealing with deputy jailers states in part that the deputies shall have all the powers and be subject to the same penalties as the jailer. KRS 446.010(24) includes jailers within the definition of a peace officer. KRS 61.300 provides in part that no person shall serve as a nonelective peace officer unless he is at least twenty-one years of age. Deputy jailers are, of course, appointed rather than elected. Thus, deputy jailers would have to be at least twenty-one years of age.
Prior to the 1982 legislative enactments relative to jails and jailers there was statutory authority only for the appointment of deputy jailers and a jail matron. In OAG 82-61, copy enclosed, at page two, we said that under the prior statutory provisions only deputies (one of which could be a matron) were provided for the jailer. There was no assistant, miscellaneous assistant or jail cook, only deputies.
House Bill No. 440 (Chapter 385, 1982 Acts) enacted by the 1982 session of the General Assembly and dealing with jails and jailers amended and repealed numerous provisions and enacted many new provisions. KRS 441.005 was amended to include the term "jail personnel" which means deputy jailers, matrons, cooks and other food service personnel and other jail employes involved in the supervision, custody, care or treatment of prisoners in jails but does not include maintenance or clerical personnel.
KRS 441.006, a new provision, effective July 1, 1982, provides in part that the fiscal court of each county shall provide for the incarceration of prisoners by providing and maintaining a jail in the county or by contracting with another county or a city for the incarceration and care of its prisoners.
KRS 441.008, a new provision, effective June 15, 1982, provides in part that the fiscal court in consultation with the jailer shall adopt an operating budget for the jail which shall provide for the expenditure of all state, county and other funds for jail operations. The county treasurer shall disperse jail operating funds at the direction of the jailer, provided the expenditures are within authorized budget categories.
KRS 441.016, a new provision effective July 1, 1982, provides in part that the jailer shall submit a quarterly report to the fiscal court concerning the physical condition of the jail, the number of jail personnel and personnel needs and other matters requested by the fiscal court.
KRS 441.017, a new provision, effective July 1, 1982, deals with the local corrections training program to provide training for jailers and jail personnel.
Thus, under the 1982 statutory enactments relative to jails and jailers, county jailers can now be assisted in the operation of the jail by personnel other than just deputy jailers and matrons. "Jail personnel" in addition to deputy jailers and matrons includes cooks and other food service personnel and other jail employes involved in the supervision, custody, care or treatment of prisoners but does not include maintenance or clerical personnel. The county could hire persons, other than deputy jailers and matrons who are appointed by the jailer, to perform duties as "jail personnel" and these persons need not be twenty-one years of age since they are not peace officers but they should be at least eighteen years of age, the age of majority for most purposes (KRS 2.015).