The U.S. Department of Justice has started to investigate jails in 23 counties in Kentucky, citing that the jails might not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Recently, Kentucky jails have been criticized, even by county jailers employed at the facilities, due to inadequate designs. While many of the jails were designed by Architecture Plus, the company went out of business in 2004. Reportedly, Architecture Plus was responsible for most of the designing and construction of a number of government buildings in Kentucky.

The investigation began once the buildings began to have structural problems. According to Davies County Jailer David Osbourne, the buildings are having problems that are unheard of in facilities less than 5 years old. He added that in some cases, interior walls have such bad cracks that inmates could conceivably pass items back and forth.

According to former Architecture Plus employees, the concrete in the jails was eventually going to crack. However, jail consultants maintain that the structures are inadequate and they will continue to investigate.