Western Kentucky Correctional Complex

Western Kentucky Correctional Complex (WKCC) is a segregated, dual-sex, medium-security prison in Lyon County, Kentucky, near the city of Fredonia. As of October 2019, the facility had 693 prisoners (493 men and 200 women).[1]

Western Kentucky Correctional Complex
Overhead view of the WKCC
LocationLyon County, Kentucky, US
StatusOperational
Security classMedium
Population693 (as of October 2019)
Opened1968
Former nameWestern KY Farm Center
Street address374 New Bethel Church Rd[1]
Fredonia, KY 42411
WebsiteOfficial website

History

The facility was built in 1968 to support the Kentucky State Penitentiary (KSP). In 1977, it became its own separate institution, the Western Kentucky Farm Center (WKFC), a minimum-security prison. When WKFC became Western Kentucky Correctional Complex in 1989, medium-security infrastructure was added. The facility was converted from a men's prison to a women's prison in 2010. Five years later, [1] it was divided into two separate facilities: the current men's prison (WKCC) and a separate women's prison—the 200-bed Ross-Cash Center—due to fewer female prisoners; this change was projected to save US$700,000 (equivalent to $755,033 in 2019) per year[2] and only require 90 days of work to accomplish. Ross-Cash was named for two Kentucky Department of Corrections staff members killed in the 1980s, Patricia Ross (died 1984 at KSP) and Fred Cash (died 1986 at WKFC).[3]

WKCC and Ross-Cash reunited under the WKCC name in 2016, and as of October 2019, is the "only state-level co-ed facility in Kentucky." Sixty-four percent of prisoners were white while the other thirty-six percent were black. Annual imprisonment cost $23,425.70 per person, while WKCC had an operating budget of $10.7 million .[1]

References
  1. "WKCC". Kentucky Department of Corrections. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  2. "The Ross-Cash Center". Kentucky Department of Corrections. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2019. Named in honor of two murdered staff members
  3. "Western Kentucky Correctional Complex to change name, be separated into two facilities". The Lane Report. Fredonia, Kentucky. July 2, 2015. Archived from the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2019. Separate facilities will house male and female inmates
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