Former Floyd County prison reopening, bringing nearly 200 jobs

Governor Matt Bevin, along with several state and county officials, is in Floyd County Friday morning to announce nearly 200 state jobs coming to the area.

He made the announcement at what used to be the Otter Creek Correctional Facility in Wheelwright, which closed in 2012. It will now reopen as the Southeast State Correctional Complex to help with the jail overcrowding issue.

The 650-bed facility will hold medium-security inmates. It will be staffed and run by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. The state has a 10-year lease agreement with CoreCivic, the owner of the private facility.

Applications for the 193 available full-time positions with benefits will be

accepted online

starting at noon on Friday. Career fairs will also be held throughout Eastern Kentucky, beginning on Monday, October 21. See a list of upcoming career fairs at the bottom of the article.

Starting pay will be at least $30,000. The prison is expected to begin operations in early 2020.

“The lease of the Southeast State facility will allow us to simultaneously address overcrowding in our prison system while being smart with state resources,” said Gov. Bevin. “The lack of available beds in our state facilities is placing a growing strain on the corrections system and preventing those currently incarcerated from receiving programming and treatment that will allow them to successfully reenter society once their time has been served.”

The correctional facility is a former private prison that shut down after a sex scandal led to the loss of state funding, according to The Associated Press.

The closing of the facility impacted nearly 200 jobs and the economy of the town of Wheelwright.

“The jobs created through this initiative will help a community that is very dear to me, and has been overly burdened by the down-turn in the coal industry,” said Floyd County Judge Executive Robbie Williams.

Kathy Kenney, Department of Corrections Commissioner, says it will also offer inmates new opportunites.

"We are going to have education and vocational training programs and one that is already set up for is carpentry."

Don Hall, Wheelwright Mayor, says it is something that many have waited years for.

"We've been promised the last years here "We are working on the prison. We are getting the prison back.," nothing ever happened, but today we saw for real."

Afterward, Governor Bevin went to Pikeville Medical Center to make another big announcement.

Upcoming Career Fairs:

Oct. 21 - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.