Jailer Records & Media Archive

Archived public records and media coverage related to the 2026 Meade County Jailer campaign.

Click image to read the WDRB article on findings that the Meade County jailer violated standards of conduct

See WAVE 3 report on jailer online conduct

Key Findings from the Public Records:

• Financial Oversight: 2023 Audits identified over $38,000 in manual adjustments due to internal accounting failures.

• Legal Liability: The following examples are drawn directly from sworn complaints filed in federal court. While each case stands on its own, together they reflect consistent patterns identified across audits, court filings, and official findings.

Federal court filings reflect allegations related to medical care, inmate treatment, access to legal services, and the ability to practice religion, including access to sacred texts, as well as retaliation for grievances and concerns about facility conditions.

• Ethical Compliance: A 2024 ruling by the Ethics Commission found violations of conduct regarding the use of public county resources.

Why Professional Leadership Matters: 

The following official state audits, federal court filings, and verified news reports document recurring ethical, operational, fiscal, and compliance concerns involving the Meade County Detention Center. These challenges are primarily the result of outdated or insufficiently updated policies, not the fault of individual staff members.

All sources cited below are public and verifiable through the Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts, federal court dockets, and major Kentucky news outlets.

Ethics Commission Finds Meade County Jailer Violated Standards of Conduct

• “Ethics commission finds Meade County jailer violated standards of conduct” – WDRB (2024)

News & Media Coverage

• “Meade County jailer says he did nothing wrong when traffic stop turned into a shooting” – WDRB (2019)

• “Escaped inmate from Meade County captured in Louisville” – WDRB (2019)

• “CAPTURED: Officials nab escaped Meade County inmate in Louisville” – WLKY (2019)

• 
  

Kentucky Auditor Reports — Jail Findings (2015 – 2024)

2024 Audit

• “The jailer entered into contracts without Fiscal Court approval, including telephone, food service, and commissary agreements.”

• “The jailer spent $49,060 on a 2023 truck using a tech-grant payment instead of the Jail Fund budget.”

• “The Meade County Jail did not have adequate controls over bulk fuel purchases for jail transport vehicles; logs lacked sufficient detail.”
  View 2024 Audit (PDF)

2023 Audit

• “The Meade County Jail Commissary Fund Annual Financial Statement was not prepared as required by KRS 68.210. Inmate monies and commissary monies could not be properly reconciled.”

• “As a result, adjustments totaling $38,873 had to be made to the financial statement.”
  View 2023 Audit (PDF)

2019 Audit

• “Payments totaling $356,377 to the jail food-service provider were not bid as required by KRS 424.260.”

• “The Meade County Detention Center lacks adequate segregation of duties over receipts and bank reconciliations.”
  View 2019 Audit (PDF)

2015 Audit

• “The Meade County Jail Commissary Fund did not maintain adequate accounting records to form an audit opinion … Adequate records were not maintained for phone cards and inmate sales.”
  View 2015 Audit (PDF)

Browse all Auditor reports: Local Government Audits Index

Federal Civil-Rights Lawsuits (2017–2025)

All filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Stronger policies, modern training, and consistent executive-level oversight are essential to reducing risk and maintaining a professional jail operation. Public court records indicate that 11 federal civil rights lawsuits were filed against the Meade County Detention Center between 2017 and 2025. For a rural county facility of our size, that number is unusually high, and the filings trend upward in recent years — indicating ongoing operational and compliance challenges rather than isolated incidents. These cases, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for alleged violations of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, reflect increased legal exposure for the county and underscore the need for updated standards that protect taxpayers, staff, and individuals in our custody.

2025

Long v. Meade County Detention Center et al. (3:25-cv-00396)
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70671752/long-v-meade-county-detention-center/

2024

Adams v. Meade County Jail et al. (3:24-cv-00652)
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/55821547/Adams_v_Meade_County_Jail_et_al

Clemans v. Scarborough et al. (3:24-cv-00334)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3%3A2024cv00334/135089/25/

2023

Allen v. Scarborough (3:23-cv-00055)
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/47671816/Allen_v_Scarborough

Coleman v. Meade County Detention Center (3:23-cv-00086)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3%3A2023cv00086/129339/14/

Pascoe v. Scarborough et al. (3:23-cv-00004)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3%3A2023cv00004/128680/19/

2022

Petty v. Scarborough (3:22-cv-00663)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3%3A2022cv00663/128554/9/

Anderson v. Scarborough (3:22-cv-00638)
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/47047457/Anderson_v_Scarborough

King v. Scarborough et al. (3:22-cv-00589)
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/kentucky/kywdce/3%3A2022cv00589/128056

Bey v. Meade County Detention Center et al. (3:22-cv-00046)
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/43480165/Bey_v_Meade_County_Detention_Center_et_al

Hicks v. Scarborough (3:22-cv-00315)

(No public link available — case information provided via federal docket.)

2019

Vincent v. Meade County Detention Center (3:19-cv-00127)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3%3A2019cv00127/110955/13/

2017

Braxton v. Meade County Detention Center (3:17-cv-00559)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3%3A2017cv00559/103980/12/

Summary

State audits, federal court records, and a documented ethics finding involving the Office of Jailer point to ongoing challenges tied to outdated policies and gaps in oversight, which place Meade County at financial and legal risk:

• Unapproved contracts and purchases
• Vehicle and fuel-accounting irregularities
• Commissary-fund record inconsistencies
• Insufficient financial oversight and segregation of duties
• 11 federal civil-rights lawsuits filed between 2017 and 2025 — an unusually high number for a county of our size

Taken together, these findings underscore the need for modern, executive-level correctional leadership — leadership focused on updated policy, accountability, and professionalism that protects taxpayers, staff, and those in our custody.