Southeast State Correctional Complex

A medium-security state prison for men in Wheelwright, Kentucky — opened in December 2020 in the former Otter Creek Correctional Center building, run by the Kentucky DOC in a building leased from CoreCivic.

Overview

The Southeast State Correctional Complex is a state prison for men operated by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. It is in Wheelwright, in Floyd County, in eastern Kentucky, and holds about 621 men in medium custody.

Kentucky DOC assigns custody level based on factors that include sentence length, time remaining, and conduct, and a person’s custody level can change during incarceration. The custody class and housing unit held at a given prison determine whether a visit is contact or non-contact, so families confirm the arrangement that applies to the specific person before a first visit.

What Makes the Southeast State Correctional Complex Different

The Southeast State Correctional Complex opened in December 2020 in the building that was previously the Otter Creek Correctional Center, a facility in Wheelwright that had closed years earlier. The Kentucky DOC operates the prison as a state institution, but it does not own the building — the Department leases the building from CoreCivic and runs it with state staff under the same rules and systems as Kentucky’s other state prisons.

That distinction matters for families because Kentucky also uses a separate, privately operated prison: the Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville, Lee County, which CoreCivic operates under contract to hold Kentucky state inmates. The Southeast State Correctional Complex (Wheelwright) is state-run; the Lee Adjustment Center (Beattyville) is privately run. Because the Southeast State Correctional Complex is a state-operated facility, it follows the statewide Kentucky DOC procedures for the approved visitor list, mail, phone service, and trust accounts.

Visiting

The statewide KY DOC rules above — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at the Southeast State Correctional Complex. The facility’s own arrangements:

Getting There and Parking

The Southeast State Correctional Complex is at 327 Correctional Drive in Wheelwright, in Floyd County in eastern Kentucky. Wheelwright is in the Appalachian coalfield region of eastern Kentucky, reached by way of State Route 122 and the surrounding mountain roads; the area is east of the Mountain Parkway. The nearest larger commercial airports are in the Lexington area to the west and in the Tri-Cities and Charleston areas to the southeast and east.

Parking is on site. Visitors confirm current entry procedures, the visitor-processing location, and what may be brought onto the grounds with the facility before arriving, because electronic devices and personal items are not permitted inside — visitors may generally bring only identification, a car key, and coins for vending machines.

Nearby Services

Wheelwright is a small community with limited lodging and dining; visitors generally find more options in the larger eastern-Kentucky towns of the surrounding region, such as Prestonsburg and Pikeville. Emergency medical care is available in the area, with larger hospitals in Prestonsburg and Pikeville. Visitors traveling a long distance generally find the most options for fuel, food, and overnight stays along the U.S. Route 23 corridor and in the Pikeville area.

Mail

Incoming personal mail goes directly to the institution, addressed to the person by their committed name and Kentucky DOC inmate number, followed by the facility’s mailing address. Mail is opened and inspected for contraband before delivery; under Kentucky Corrections policy, correspondence is delivered to the person within 48 hours of receipt on normal workdays.

Legal and other privileged mail — from a licensed attorney, a court, a government official, the Department of Public Advocacy, or Corrections officials — is opened only in the person’s presence and should be clearly marked as legal mail.

Books and magazines must be shipped new, directly from a publisher or an approved retailer; items sent by individuals are refused. Packages are limited to approved-vendor care packages arranged through the facility.

Verify the exact mailing address, current mail rules, and approved package vendor with the facility before sending anything, because procedures change.

Learn More

• Visiting a Kentucky prison — approved visitor lists, scheduling, dress code, and what to expect at the gate.
• Sending mail in Kentucky — how to address mail, what is allowed, and how books and packages are handled.
• Phone calls and video visits — setting up calls, video visits, and messaging with someone in a Kentucky prison.
• Sending money — how to deposit funds to a person’s account and what the money can be used for.
• Medical care — how health care works in Kentucky prisons and how to raise a medical concern.
• Intake, classification, and transfers — where people enter the system, how they are classified, and why some state inmates are held in county jails.