Transfers & Finding Someone in Kentucky (KY DOC)

Finding someone

Kentucky DOC publishes an online locator called KOOL — the Kentucky Offender Online Lookup — at kool.corrections.ky.gov. It can be searched by name or by DOC inmate number (the numeric ID assigned to each person in state custody), and the results show the person’s current location. That is the reliable way to confirm where someone is held, including whether they are in a state prison or a county jail (see below). The locator notes that data newer than 120 days might not yet be finalized.

The DOC inmate number is also the identifier senders need for mail and money, so it is worth recording once it is known. Someone held in a county jail before sentencing may also be located through that county’s sheriff’s office; victims and family can additionally register for notifications through VINE/VINELink.

Reception and classification

Newly sentenced people are not sent directly to a long-term assignment. They first pass through reception and assessment, where they are evaluated — medical, mental-health, education, and security classification — and assigned a custody level before being moved to a permanent facility. Where that happens depends on the person:

• Men enter through the Roederer Correctional Complex (RCC) near La Grange, the statewide Assessment and Classification Center for incoming male prisoners. New male commitments are processed, assessed, and classified there before assignment to a long-term facility. (People sentenced to death are an exception and are not processed through Roederer.)
• Women enter through the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women (KCIW) in Pewee Valley, the state’s only dedicated women’s prison, which receives adult women from all 120 counties and holds general population across multiple custody levels.

Because reception is the first step, the location shown in KOOL during this early period may be an intake center rather than the person’s eventual long-term assignment.

How transfers work

Kentucky DOC reclassifies and moves people among its facilities based on custody level, programming, and bed space. After reception, a person is typically moved to a facility that matches the assigned custody class, and further transfers can follow over the course of a sentence.

Kentucky DOC does not generally notify families of transfers in advance. For someone tracking where a person is held, KOOL above is the practical tool — checking it again after a suspected move is how a new location is confirmed.

County jails: a defining feature of Kentucky

Kentucky is unusual in how much of its state-sentenced population is held in county jails rather than state prisons. Under a 1992 law (KRS 532.100), most people convicted of lower-level Class D felonies serve their state sentence in a county jail instead of a state prison, with some exceptions (for example, certain sex offenses carrying sentences of two or more years). As of late 2024, about a third of Kentucky’s state-sentenced people were held in county jails.

For families, this means a person sentenced to “state time” in Kentucky may actually be held in a county jail — possibly far from the sentencing county or from any state prison. A county jail is run by an elected jailer and sets its own visiting, phone, mail, and deposit rules, which are not the DOC’s. Two people with similar sentences can therefore face entirely different visiting and communication procedures depending on whether they are in a state prison or a county jail.

KOOL still lists the person and shows their current location, so families should check KOOL first to learn whether their relative is in a state DOC institution or a county jail, and then follow that facility’s rules. County jails are a separate tier and are not individually covered on this site; for a person held in one, contact that county’s jail directly for its procedures.

What a transfer means for visiting

A transfer can change visiting logistics. Every visitor must be on the person’s approved visitor list, which carries over within the system, but the days, hours, and contact level depend on the facility and the person’s security classification, and some facilities require visits to be scheduled in advance. A move to a different prison — or between a state prison and a county jail — can therefore change when and how visits happen. After a transfer, confirm the visiting schedule and status at the current location. See Visiting in Kentucky.

Verify Before Acting

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Know Your Rights.