{Ashland, Kentucky}...The Kentucky Jailers Association joined jailers in Boyd and Carter counties in filing a suit Tuesday in Frankfort aimed at stopping plans to implement a Regional Jail Authority that would oversee the operations of the lockups in both counties. Attorney James Deckard of Lexington argues the Northeastern Regional Jail Authority violates the “statutory framework” for a regional jail authority, which was created by the General Assembly in 1994, and the Carter County Fiscal Court’s approval of the enabling legislation for the authority is invalid because the May 29th meeting at which first readings of the two measures were approved was in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act. Deckard maintains the NRJA does not meet the state’s statutory definition for a regional jail authority because state law “limits the operation and maintenance of a regional jail to one jail that may be owned and operated by one county to hold prisoners for another county or a single jail owned and operated by two counties.
