The Department of Corrections, pursuant to KRS 196 - 197, is responsible for the broad range of activities associated with adult criminal incarceration, public safety, inmate rehabilitation, probation and parole, and criminal recidivism. As the largest department in the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Corrections has four separate appropriation units: Corrections Management, Community Services and Local Facilities, Adult Institutions, and Local Jail Support. The Department of Corrections utilizes resources from each of these units to provide the necessary balance between public safety and fiscal responsibility. In order to accomplish this, the Department is charged with accommodating a growing inmate population through a balance of community and institutional based solutions.

I ne Department's core cost driver is the teion population. KRS 196.111 mandates the use of evidence-based practices in the sentencing process for convicted felons and in the decision making process for the supervision and treatment of felons in prison or on probation or parole. In 2011, modifications to KRS Chapter 218A controlled substance statutes placed emphasis on probation, diversion, and treatment and diverts savings from the drug law changes to drug treatment programs. Other provisions in KRS 439.335, KRS 439.340, KRS 439.320, and KRS 197.045 emphasize the use of parole to effectuate accelerated parole hearings; to order mandatory reentry supervision release; and to allow for good time credit that reduces the sentence while on parole.

The budget incorporates the following array of institutional and community beds to accommodate the projected prison and community felon population under the custody of the Department of Corrections.

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