Three Kentucky inmates say in a federal suit that the Kenton County Detention Center is overcrowded, sometimes holding twice as many inmates as it was built to accommodate.
The suit asks a judge to place limits on the number of inmates who can be kept at the jail, located on the top floors of the county building on Court Street.
The suit filed by inmates James Hollingsworth, John Lamb and Kenneth Wilson, said the tight quarters has caused fights over racial slurs, nose picking, body odor, gambling debts and food.
“Any tales of dungeon-like conditions or an out-of-control jail environment is absolutely untrue," said Scott Colvin, chief deputy for jail operations. “People can take a tour of the jail to see for themselves.”
Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson said the inmates' attorney, Robert Newman, rushed to file the suit before the county announced a "major" plan to relieve overcrowding.
The suit alleges that the design capacity of the jail is 240 for the regular detention area and 90 in the minimum security area. It said the population has recently been as high as 530 and averaged 465 inmates in 2004.
Officials said improvements have increased the jail's capacity to 384. Newman said in an interview that all the information in the suit came from public documents.
A similar suit filed in neighboring Campbell County last year alleged overcrowding at that county's detention center. Newman also filed that suit. In January, a federal judge approved an overcrowding settlement at the Campbell County facility, which was built to hold 135 prisoners.