Clicking on any of the Kentucky Counties or Cities below will direct you to a list of all the City Jails, County Jails and Juvenile Detention Centers in that specific County.
Kentucky has 120 counties. An elected jailer runs the jail. That office is separate from the sheriff. Louisville Metro and Lexington-Fayette run the large urban jails. A rural county may run a full-service jail, a restricted-custody center, or no jail at all. Counties without a jail contract with a neighbor. City police departments have holding rooms.
The Department of Corrections writes the jail standards under KRS 441.055. Full-service jails follow 501 KAR Chapter 3. Restricted-custody centers follow 501 KAR Chapter 7. Staff have to check each person in person at least every 60 minutes. The department inspects jails that hold state prisoners.
Jails in Kentucky hold people before trial, people serving a misdemeanor, and a large share of state felons. A Class D felony, the lowest felony class, is often served in a county jail. The state pays the jail a daily rate. On September 1, 2026, the department counted 7,277 state inmates in jails, 5,887 men and 1,390 women. A Class A, B, or C felony, and anyone the department pulls out of a jail, goes to a state prison. A federal sentence goes to the Bureau of Prisons. USP McCreary, FCI Manchester, and FCI Ashland are the federal prisons in the state.
Not all 120 counties operate a jail. The ones that do are full-service jails or restricted-custody centers. When a jail holds a state inmate, the department is the payer. When it holds someone for another county or for the U.S. Marshals, that agency pays the contract rate.
State prisons are a separate map. On September 1, 2026, the department counted 12,343 people in its facilities. The list includes Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville, Kentucky State Reformatory, Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex, Little Sandy Correctional Complex, Luther Luckett, Northpoint Training Center, Green River, Western Kentucky, Roederer Assessment Center, the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women, and Lee Adjustment Center. The statewide total that day, prisons and jails and community placements together, was 19,824.
The Department of Juvenile Justice runs the youth system. On August 25, 2025, it operated 27 facilities: 8 secure detention centers holding 248 youth, 6 youth development centers holding 119, 8 group homes holding 54, and 5 day-treatment centers. Detention is the pre-hearing lockup. A youth development center is the commitment placement. Group homes and day treatment are not jails. Boyd Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Ashland and Breathitt Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Jackson are two of the secure detention sites.
A youth in a regional detention center is usually waiting on court. A youth in a development center has been committed. Both are secure, and both run school. Search the county of the arrest. The listing shows the regional detention center that county uses.
Booking is a queue: identity, prints, a medical screen, a search, property bagged, one call. The person has not been convicted. The cell still runs on counts. A Class D felon may be in the next bunk, serving a state sentence in the same jail. Food is plain, the uniform does not fit, and sleep is broken. Withdrawal from alcohol, opioids, or methamphetamine can start before the first appearance.
Deputies who apply the rules the same way to everyone run a quieter floor. Uneven enforcement is how contraband moves. Louisville and Lexington can separate by risk. A restricted-custody center cannot hold the same mix, and a full jail means a transfer.
Many Kentucky jails sell tablet time, video visits, and deposits through a vendor. Those accounts can be shut off. Each county page on this site lists the jail phone, the vendor, and the way to send money for that jailer’s office.