For Immediate Release
Dec. 19, 2002
Contact: Rusty Cheuvront or Terry Sebastian (cell: 682-9405) at (502) 564-2611 

Patton says state police, coroners, prisons would suffer

FRANKFORT, KY. - In his third budget press conference in a week, Governor Paul Patton today announced a possible hiring freeze for state police, the closing of the Western Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office and the early release of more nonviolent inmates if he has to make further cuts to the state’s criminal justice budget.  

“This administration has made great strides in strengthening the state’s criminal justice programs for the benefit of our citizens,” Patton said. “To make further cuts in this area would be to jeopardize that progress and place us on a slippery slope.”  

The Governor’s comments come at a time when he is trying to heighten public awareness about Kentucky’s financial condition. Part of that awareness has been a request to all state cabinets to formulate a plan that would show how services would suffer if a 2.6-percent cut occurred in FY03 and a 5.2-percent cut occurred in FY04. 

State government already absorbed an $872 million budget shortfall in the last biennium (FY01-02) and managed the reduction with minimal impact on service delivery.   

In the past week however, Patton has illustrated how further cuts would impact the state’s progress in education and in human services, adding that criminal justice services would experience the same type of setbacks.  

Nowhere is this clearer, Patton said, than in the Kentucky State Police. KSP could be faced with canceling its next two cadet classes, which would mean a loss of 160 new troopers. 

“The impact of having fewer sworn officers would cause delays in response times to vehicle crashes, domestic violence complaints, drug crimes, crimes in progress and providing an enforcement presence at special events,” Patton said. “These are life threatening situations, ones that must have law enforcement involved.”  

Similar to the cuts to KSP, cuts to the Department of Corrections would also “have extreme consequences” because of the nature of the agency’s business, Patton said. The Governor released 567 nonviolent inmates on Monday in an effort to reduce costs in the Corrections’ budget, which is strained due to more prisoners housed than budgeted.  

Implementing further cuts would mean more nonviolent inmates would be released, along with reducing the local jail per diem, closing two minimum-security facilities -- the Marion Adjustment Center (private prison) and the Bell County Forestry Camp -- and implementing staff layoffs.  

Juvenile services would have to be decreased. The Department of Juvenile Justice would be asked to minimize the amount of funds used to place committed juveniles in private childcare facilities. Reductions would also be necessary in funds allocated annually for local prevention councils to fund juvenile crime prevention programs in the community. 

Additionally, the department would make dramatic cuts to programs like the Gateway Diversion Project in Mt. Sterling, which provides alternatives to detention in the Montgomery County area, and the Mary Kendall Emergency Shelter in Owensboro, which provides alternatives to detention in the Daviess County area.   

Services to county coroners would suffer under the proposed budget cuts because the Western Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office located in Madisonville would be closed. This forensic center services prosecutors and coroners and approximately 200 cases are examined in this facility annually. All cases from this office would be transferred to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville, where coroners would have to deliver bodies for examination.  

Without this office, criminal prosecution of cases could be delayed because of fewer staff would be available to process them and death benefits to families who are already in a crisis situation would be delayed because of the longer time to process cases, said Tracey Corey, state medical examiner. 

State prosecutorial and public advocacy services would also face hardships. Forty-four staff layoffs could occur in Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ offices and 38 in County Attorneys’ offices across the state. The Department of Public Advocacy would have to eliminate 50 positions, which would decrease its ability to offer adequate legal representation to those who cannot afford legal representation.  

“All of these cuts are just proposed and nothing is definite at this point,” Patton said. “I am hopeful, however, that as lawmakers and the general public continue to understand the dramatic nature of Kentucky’s budget shortfall, together we can find solutions that, at the very least, will keep our current commitments to the people of Kentucky.”  

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Note: For a budget outline of these proposed cuts: http://gov.state.ky.us/budget2002/12-19index.htm