A bill to hold Kentucky’s no-jail jailers accountable for their work passed through the legislature this week and is awaiting Gov. Matt Bevin’s approval.

WFPL's Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting has received top industry honors from a national journalism organization.

Legislation designed to hold Kentucky’s jailers more accountable has achieved mixed results so far in this year’s General Assembly.

Kentucky jailers who don’t have a jail to run would have to file quarterly progress reports with their county fiscal courts under a bill that passed the state Senate on Tuesday. The bill follows KyCIR's 2015 investigation into no-jail jailers.

A Kentucky senator has filed legislation to increase accountability for the state’s no-jail jailers. This follows a KyCIR investigation into the inefficient, nepotism-laced jailers system that costs taxpayers about $2 million annually.

Throughout our extensive reporting on jails this year, one group has been relatively quiet: the Kentucky Jailers Association.

Legislative battle lines are forming over how best to address problems associated with the state’s 41 jailers who don’t have jails to run.

A bill to be introduced soon in the House of Representatives is expected to propose doing away with no-jail jailers’ annual salaries, and compensating those jailers only for specific services performed, such as prisoner transport or courtroom security.

A look into a wasteful, nepotism-laced but little-discussed jailers system that costs Kentucky taxpayers approximately $2 million annually.

How did Kentucky come up with the idea of electing county jailers? And why has the practice persisted here long after other states abolished it?