Jailer Bennett resigning, Shirley to start role early

By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
Aaron Shirley, elected Nov. 8 to be the next jailer, will be taking the helm at the Barren County Detention Center effective Saturday rather than on Jan. 1.
Judge-Executive Micheal Hale told Glasgow News 1 on Wednesday, upon being asked about the situation, that a letter of resignation had been received from the current jailer, Aaron Bennett. His departure was to become effective Dec. 24, with Dec. 23 to be his last day.
Hale said he went to sheriff Kent Keen because, by statute, the sheriff has the option to take over the position when a vacancy occurs before the end of a term, but “he showed no interest and put it in our court.”
The judge-executive then worked with Fiscal Court Clerk Sherry Jones to put together the necessary paperwork to appoint Shirley, he said.
“It makes perfect sense,” Hale said. “The people voted Aaron Shirley in to be the jailer; he needs to go ahead and be the jailer.”
He declined to comment further about Bennett’s early resignation.
“I just wish Aaron Shirley as our new jailer the best of luck,” he said. “You know running a detention center, to me it’s not a easy task, but I want to challenge the fiscal court to know that the detention center requires a lot.”
That includes managing the finances, the inmate population and the employees and taking care of the building itself.
“As I have told folks, we still owe on that building. That’s one of the largest debts that we have,” Hale said, “so they have to take care of it, make it last, preserve it. And I feel like Aaron Shirley will do that.”
He later provided a copy of the undated, brief resignation letter, and Jones said it was received Dec. 7 via email.
The letter offered no further information than essentially that he was resigning and the dates Hale mentioned.
Hale signed an executive order Wednesday appointing Shirley to the jailer position effective Saturday, and Circuit Judge John T. Alexander confirmed to GN1 that he had administered the oath of office Wednesday afternoon for Shirley’s term to begin early. Shirley had already been sworn in for his four-year term beginning Jan. 1.
Shirley had just left the courthouse as GN1 approached to attend a meeting taking place there and talked with him, learning he’d just come from taking the oath of office.
He said he’s excited and anxious to get in there and get started. Shirley said has not spoken with Bennett nor has he been to the jail here since being elected, but he’s been learning some ropes at the Warren County Regional Jail. The Kentucky Jailers Association places newly elected jailers with one nearby for an internship and mentorship until they take office, and he’s been doing that.
“It’s not a set number of hours. I usually get down there about 6 in the morning and stay until anywhere from 5 to 11 at night,” Shirley said.
He’s also completed a one-week jailer training in Frankfort, he said.
Keen said he declined to take over the jail upon learning of Bennett’s resignation because, “No. 1, I don’t have the personnel to adequately supervise the jail and the sheriff’s office, I feel like, because I’m shorthanded at the sheriff’s level.”
In addition to that, he knew the state law allows the judge-executive to make that appointment in the event of a vacancy like that.
“So therefore, when Judge Hale told me that, I said for eight days …, why don’t we just appoint the jailer-elect, because obviously that’s who’s going to be taking charge of the jail, via the election, after the first of the year, so let’s just go ahead and do it now,” Keen said. “To me, it was a simple, logical thing.”
Attempts by GN1 to reach Bennett for comment were not immediately successful.