By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WILLIAMSTOWN - Retired Kentucky State Police Detective Steve Kellam took the helm of the Grant County jail in August 2001 with a dictate to clean up the troubled operation.

The veteran police officer pledged to increase training and hold the jail staff to the highest standard after a scathing Grant County grand jury report forced the former jailer to resign. But less than two years later, the jail has been rocked with claims of prisoner abuse that have left some to wonder if anything has changed.

Kellam, the reformer, now faces four federal lawsuits, a neighboring county threatening to pull prisoners out of his jail and a prosecutor who dropped a DUI case after the defendant claimed he was beaten in jail.

AT A GLANCE

The Grant County Detention Center is located at 212 Barnes Road in Williamstown. • Jailer: Steve Kellam served as a Kentucky state trooper for 17 years before resigning in August 2001 to take the helm at the jail. • Staff: 51 full-time employees. • Operation: The 304-bed jail was completed in May 2000 at a cost of $7.5 million. It serves Grant and Pendleton counties, in addition to holding state and federal inmates. Source: Kentucky Dept. of Corrections

"Citizens are scared to speak out against the jail," said Hazel Clifford, who lost a race for Pendleton County magistrate last year. "They tell me they are afraid of repercussions if they or a family member would ever be arrested. I heard many, many people complain about the jail as I campaigned."

She was the only citizen to speak out against the jail at a recent Pendleton County Fiscal Court meeting.

Former jailer Louie Jump oversaw a $7.5 million expansion of the Grant County jail that increased its capacity from 28 to more than 300 beds. He resigned in August 2001 after being widely criticized in a Grant County grand jury report for lax security, lack of professionalism and high jail staff turnover.

The seven-page report didn't find any criminal wrongdoing, but did have a list of recommendations that it asked the county to address immediately. It recommended increasing security - a prisoner had recently walked away - that all inmates wear a jail uniform, and more staff training.

The report said the jail should prepare guidelines regarding crimes that are committed in the jail. It said jail workers were discouraged from contacting state police or the Grant County sheriff's office for help in criminal investigations stemming from problems at the jail.

It also noted a high turnover of the 40-member staff. Forty-seven employees had left the jail in a 17-month period.

Grant County Judge-executive Darrell Link tapped Kellam to replace Jump, who had served as the county's elected jailer since 1985. Kellam began to implement reforms as he served out the rest of Link's term, which ended in December. Kellam ran for jailer for the first time this winter and won; he was sworn in to serve a complete term starting in January.

Elective office unique

Kentucky is the only state with a constitution requiring citizens to elect jailers. Other states hire professionals to run their county jails. Historians say Kentucky's constitution was amended in the 1890s in an attempt to make jailers more accountable to the community and wrest control of the jails from corrupt sheriffs.

At about the same time Jump was forced out of his job, neighboring Pendleton County was facing a jail crisis of its own. Pendleton was going to have to close its jail or follow Grant County's lead by making millions of dollars in upgrades to meet tighter state jail standards.

What Pendleton did appeared to be a win-win situations for both counties. Pendleton avoided costly upgrades, or possibly even building a new jail, by sending its prisoners to Grant.

In exchange, Grant County built a much larger jail than it needed and got into the jail business. The county subsidized the cost by charging Pendleton, the state Department of Corrections and the federal government to house overflow prisoners.

For example, Pendleton County pays the Grant County jail $23 per day for each prisoner. The contract will increase to $25 per day July 1.

Pendleton County Judge-executive Henry Bertram said the arrangement worked well, with few people asking questions, until five inmates were indicted in March for assaulting and sodomizing an 18-year-old Pendleton County resident.

"Until the 18-year-old came forward, I had only received one complaint in three years," he said, "and I think that complaint was resolved to the person's satisfaction. Believe me, if there is a problem in the county, I never had an inkling."

Safety concerns

Concerned Pendleton could be exposed to civil suits against the jail, Bertram called a special meeting of fiscal court on Friday to decide if the county should continue to house its prisoners in Grant County. State law requires counties to provide a safe place for prisoners.

Bertram began the meeting by saying he was satisfied with assurances from Grant Judge-executive Link, whom he described as a trusted friend, that the jail was safe. Link than stepped before the six-person fiscal court and threw his full political support behind the jailer he had first appointed in 2001.

"I stand behind Steve (Kellam)," Link said. "He is a good Christian person. I met with Steve at 10 p.m. last night and told him he had my full support. He has done a great job since I appointed him. His staff is adequately trained."

Link and Kellam, who also attended the hastily called meeting, did not address any specific allegations made in the four federal suits against the jail.

Kellam's attorney, Tom Nienaber, used the meeting to attack attorneys for taking on clients who have filed suits against the jail.

"Lawyers are grandstanding by trying their cases in the press," Nienaber said.

Nienaber also said he had instructed Link and Kellam not to speak to the press.

"You have not seen any comment in the press from Grant (County officials)," Nienaber said. "I don't think it is appropriate, fair or necessary at this time. But I don't want anyone to think our silence is a sign we are hiding something. It is difficult to comment on suits you haven't even seen."

Kellam presented a recently completed Department of Corrections report on the Grant County jail. The 37-page report described the jail as "clean and well run." It found only minor deficiencies, including a stopped up floor drain, exit sign bulb out and that some inmates were sleeping on the floor.

The corrections department said Kellam's jail has a good reputation with inspectors.

"After reviewing the file for all of 2002 and thus far in '03, we can find nothing in our files of inmate complaint letters that indicates anyone complaining of ever being assaulted in the Grant County Jail, either sexually or otherwise, or witnessing such an assault," said department spokesman Lisa Lamb.

The report was compiled by one of three inspectors who visit Kentucky's 71 full-service jails twice a year. The corrections department often finds itself so short-staffed that it violated its own policy in 2002 by inspecting the Grant County jail only once.

The reports, although lengthy, generally focus on the jail building. Inspectors check for things such as fire alarms, proper ventilation and lighting.

State inspectors also require jails to have policies on such issues as firearms in the jail, but they don't evaluate the effectiveness of the policy. The jail has great latitude on what the policy can state.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com

Alleged assaults and lawsuits