Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex

Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex is a medium-security institution located in the Appalachian Region of Morgan County in Eastern Kentucky. Construction began in January 1986 with the ground breaking ceremony presided over by Governor Martha Layne Collins. 

A 90-bed minimum security unit exists outside the fence, and the institution sits on 157 acres of land. The design received the 1990 Kentucky Society of Architects of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Hone Award of Design Excellence.

The mission of this facility is to serve and protect the people of Kentucky by securely providing care, custody and control of adult male convicted felons and by providing a structured work environment, academic and vocational education, religious and behavior modification programs, all with the intent and design to support inmate accountability, reduce recidivism, and increase the incidence of community reintegration.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

Visitors must be checked in at the Front Lobby desk no later than 2:30pm to be allowed to visit. All visits can be up to two hours in length unless the Visiting Supervisor determines otherwise (i.e. due to excessive number of visits).

General Rules

• Inmates may not receive a visit during their first weekend at EKCC.
• No more than three adult visitors can visit an inmate during a contact visit.
• No more than two adult visitors can visit an inmate during a (non-contact) controlled visit.
• Physical contact is limited to one brief kiss (no open mouth kissing is permitted) and hug at the beginning and end of each visit. Sexual stimulation or activity is strictly prohibited.
• Children must be kept under the parental control at all times.
• Infants (0-1 year) may be held by the inmate. All other children must be seated or held by visiting parent or guardian.
• All children must have Identification Card, Social Security Card or Birth Certificate before they will be allowed to visit and must be accompanied by an adult.
• If a minor is accompanied by a non-parent or guardian, they are required to have written, signed, and notarized consent of the parent or guardian.
• Infants under the age of six months may visit unlimited time without a social security number, provided the person bringing them meet all the guidelines to visit.
• All minor children must have proper identification with them to be able to visit (i.e. Social Security Card, birth record, or picture identification).

Dress Code

Visitors clothing must be in good taste as not to offend other visitors, staff, and/or inmates. This includes:

• No spandex clothing.
• no tank tops or tube tops.
• Dresses, skirts, and shorts must be at least knee length.
• No sleeveless shirts (including see-through sleeves).
• Shirts must be capable of being tucked in to jeans, slacks, or skirts
• No low-cut or provocative clothing will be allowed (i.e. tight fitting pants, low-cut shirts, fishnet clothing).
• Appropriate undergarments must be work (i.e. bra, panties, underwear, a slip worn with a dress).
• No hats, coats, gloves or scarves are permitted.
• Shoes shall be worn at all times. Shoes shall be closed toe. Unauthorized footwear includes: sandals, clogs, crocs and flip flops.
• No tissue paper or handkerchiefs are permitted.
• No gum, mints, candy, etc. will be permitted.

What can you bring to a visit?

• Thirty-dollar limit ($30 in $1 bills and silver change).
• Vehicle keys (One vehicle key. No key chains or keyless remotes will be permitted).
• Clear plastic bag or coin purse for money.
• Essential infant items
  • 1 plastic bottle
  • 3 diapers
  • no toys, no wipes, no blankets, and no glass baby food jars will be permitted
• Visitors may leave a US Postal Money Order for the inmates in a locked box at the front lobby reception.
• Visitors may wear one watch, one ring, one necklace, and one pair of earrings.
• Visitors may not wear bracelets or have any visible body piercings (nose rings, eyebrow rings, lip rings, etc.) other than ears.
• Any Items not allowed in the visiting room must be placed in lobby lockers. Any items left at the front reception desk will be disposed of by staff.
• All visitor pockets must be emptied at the metal detector near the visiting room entrance.
• All allowed medication must be left at the visiting room desk with the visiting room officers.
• Any violation of the above-listed rules will result in immediate termination of the visit and/or disciplinary action.

Items not allowed in the Visiting Room include cameras, cell phones, and recording devices. These devices must be left inside the secured vehicle. All tobacco products must also be left inside the vehicle (cigarettes, chew, dip).

All incoming mail must be sent via the US Postal Service and is subject to be inspected or read to determine if contraband is enclosed or any rule violation has occurred.

How to Call an Inmate

How to Send Money

​Programs For ​Inmates

The Programs Department is responsible for implementing and maintaining inmate programs at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex, and they are designed to assist inmates in becoming productive citizens upon their return to society. 

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Narcotics Anonymous (NA)

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism/drug addiction.  

MRT/Anger Management (Coping with Anger)

This is an evidence-based program derived from the Moral Reconation Therapy concept.  It focuses on managing feelings and behaviors accompanying anger. It consists of eight modules that include anger as a destroyer, how anger occurs, choosing new behaviors, anger, violence and abuse, frustrations, and commitment to change.  

The program runs for 24 weeks and participants who successfully complete it are eligible to receive 90 days of good time.

MRT Relapse Prevention

This program is designed to help an individual identify thinking patterns that are skewed and require some restructuring to pull the client out of their current situation.  It combines education, group and individual counseling, and structured exercises designed to foster moral development.  

Moreover, the program is designed to help clients identify how and why previous attempts to full recovery have not worked while assisting in identifying the sobriety path for a more successful tomorrow.  Participants who successfully complete this are eligible to receive 90 days of good time.  

Design for Living

Design for Living is a program for educating inmates who are substance abusers.  The program involves only the education component and covers the history of mood altering chemicals, how they have been regarded in society, and how they affect people.  Inmates also learn the relationship between chemical use and AIDS, pregnancy, physical abuse, childhood sexual abuse, and criminal behavior. 

IN2WORK

This program is designed to provide hands on training that consists of three phases - kitchen basics, retail basics, and certification. It takes between twenty and twenty-two weeks to complete. All graduates receive a food service certificate of training that is highly regarded in the food service industry.  Inmates who successfully complete the program also receive an award of 90 days of goodtime credit.

Inside Out Dad

Inside Out Dad is an evidence-based program designed to connect incarcerated fathers to their families and prepare them for release. This program was designed by the National Fatherhood Initiative in Germantown, MD, and is offered in prisons across the country.  

The program runs for 24 weeks and participants who complete the program will be eligible to receive 90 days of good time credit. 

Life Without a Crutch

This program is an introduction to recovery from addiction. It describes what addiction is, its causes and effects, the rewards of overcoming it and ideas on how to begin. The program is used in a group counseling setting and group participation is mandatory. 

MRT Successful Reentry into the Community

This program is aimed at inmates who have six months to a year prior to being released from the institution and who will be re-entering the realms of their old community. The purpose of treatment is to further decrease the number of cases/clients that return into the system by providing them with the tools necessary to not engage in relapse. 

A progressive treatment approach includes four curriculums: Family Support (financial obligation to family that has been neglected due to absence from their lives), Filling the Inner Void (general and specific concepts on material possessions-why people have so many materialistic needs), Untangling Relationships (codependency: teaching clients not to be codependent but rather independent), Job Readiness (post conversion into a dependent, defining those lines in terms of financial security and being independent).  

The treatment strategy utilized encompasses multi-directional approaches weekly in which clients receive education, support, skills/tools, security and safety, ability to plan/work on a realistic/measurable/attainable master goal plan for when they exit the institution and re-join the community.  

Its purpose is to train the individual to recognize what tools to utilize in what situation in order to become and remain successful in the transformation/transition. Participants who successfully complete it are eligible for 90 days good time credit.

Moral Reconation Therapy

This is an evidence-based program that is designed to alter how the offender thinks, how they make judgments and decisions about the right and wrong thing to do in critical situations, and to promote actions and behaviors focused on changing negative relationships. The program is conducted as a group session that is broken down into 16 steps with each inmate progressing at their own pace. Inmates who successfully complete the program will be eligible to receive a 90 day good time credit.

Portal New Direction

This is a promising practice program with a focus on the reentry of the offender into society.  It is open to inmates that are eighteen to twenty four months from parole eligibility or release. The offender goes through a risk and needs assessment process to determine what is necessary for a successful community reintegration.  

The program address the offender’s family, housing, employment, education, aftercare treatment, positive mentors and other identified areas that typically impact the probability of recidivism. Inmates who successfully complete the program will be eligible to receive a 90 day good time credit.

Pathfinders

This is an evidence-based cognitive behavior program that focuses on team building, communication, stress management, anger management, problem solving, values, motivation, time management, and life planning. Individuals who complete the program are eligible to receive 90 days of good time credit.  

Pulling Punches

This is an anger management program designed so that participants learn how to express anger in a constructive way that benefits them and others, rather than hurting themselves or others around them. It teaches the participant to build awareness of anger problems, acquire skills to control it and do long term work to reduce “built up” anger. 

Relationship and Financial Peace

This program is offered in three parts, 24/7 Dads, Job Coaching, and Relationship and Financial Peace. The relationship section concentrates on tools to build stronger relationships in a safe, healthy way.  

The financial peace portion is based on a secular version of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace program and teaches life skills, such as saving money, balancing a checkbook, avoiding dangers of debt, dealing with creditors, etc. These are combined into one part.  24/7 Dads focuses on fathering skills. The Job Coaching section focuses on jobs and careers.  

MRT Untangling Relationships

This program is comprised of Interactive Journaling and MRT modalities to produce a high intensity program for clients who struggle with co-dependent relationships. Its goal is to solve addictive relationships (co-dependent relationships) that produce severe problems and anxiety for individuals.  

This program helps clients identify what relationships are supposed to look like and assess their current closest involvements to determine the changes that are needed in order to pull out of something unhealthy and transfer their energy and efforts in fixing their individual error thinking.  The program focuses on Co-Dependent relationships and on rational thinking, through Motivational interviewing, Journaling, and Cognitive Behavioral Techniques. Participants who successfully complete it are eligible for 90 days good time credit. 

IJ Forward Thinking

This program is an Interactive Journaling approach to treatment. It has been specifically developed by The Change Companies in collaboration with the California CDCR-DJJ to target the population of 18-25 high-risk offenders.  

Moreover, the program is derived from seven different curriculums to include: What got me here, Responsible Behavior, Victim Awareness (working on the individuals that they victimized), Relationships and communication, Family, Substance Abuse, and Individual Planning.  

Participants who successfully complete it are eligible for 90 days good time credit.

MRT Mentoring

The MRT Mentoring program was designed to ensure a higher success rate for those who complete MRT programs (maintenance) and those that are treatment resistant (help those who are new to MRT), as well as, to change the culture of those who surround us (modeling positive change).  Participants must have completed the MRT program prior and those who successfully complete the Mentoring are eligible for 90 more days of good time credit.  

MRT Parenting for Men

This program is aimed toward father figures (i.e.: big brothers, grandparents, step-parents). It utilizes two curriculums to teach the client the parenting of a mother, father, and parent (note that all of these are different roles).  

Upon completion of the Parenting and Family Values curriculum, clients then tackles the curriculum of Family Support: Responsibly Fulfilling a Life’s Obligation which covers beliefs and values encompassing the long-term benefit and care of their children.  

The curriculum takes a good look at financial obligations (money management) to care for a child/loved one, how to create a financial budget to be able to meet the demands/needs of a child, evaluating what a good father is, how changes affect children and making the best effort to have a good relationship with the child’s mother, coping with anger and reality, future possibilities with children, evaluating lifestyle and making decisions for the future. Participants who successfully complete this program are eligible for 90 days good time credit. 

MRT Trauma for Men

This program focuses on providing tools to cope with some things from the past/present and move forward in a way that does not keep you restricted and in chains anymore. It encompasses eight modules and a Journal that assists in identifying things that may have an effect on everyday life.  

The program will then teach coping mechanisms and strategies while encouraging life-changing planning to be made. Participants who successfully complete this program are eligible for 90 days good time credit.

Experiencing God Study & Mind of Christ

These two programs are 13-week studies and are offered three times each year. They also are studies of spiritual principles leading to a certificate from the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. This program is conducted by United Churches of Winchester in Winchester, Kentucky.

Explore the Bible

Christian fellowship, prayer and verse-by-verse in depth Bible study. This program is designed as a program for inmates to learn about various books within the bible. It runs for approximately 13 weeks. This program is conducted by United Churches of Winchester in Winchester, Kentucky.

Master Life

This study is a 26-week study of spiritual principles leading to a certificate from the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.  

Malachi Dads

The Malachi Dads Program consists of a specific bible-based curriculum, out of class study in the Book of Romans, scripture memorization and consistent letter writing to their children.  It is a one-year curriculum, followed by a ”diploma,” and “graduation.” The men then become Malachi Dads for life.

Educational Programs

The Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex (EKCC) in conjunction with the Council on Post-Secondary Education (CPE), Kentucky Adult Education (KYAE), and Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) oversees the educational programming at the facility.  

There are three separate educational curriculums available to the inmate population at EKCC, they are: Adult Basic Education (GED), Occupational/Technical (vocational), and College Transfer programs.

Adult Basic Education offers a High School Equivalency Diploma (GED) along with literacy and life skills to students who have not previously earned a traditional high school diploma or GED.  

Occupational/Technical Programming offers Carpentry, Heating & Air Conditioning Technology (pending), Masonry, Small Engine Repair, and Microsoft Office IC3 (pending).  Nationally recognized certificates are available for successful completion of each program.  

The College Transfer program operates on the traditional semester basis and offers Associate in Arts (AA) and an Associate in Science (AS) degrees from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS).

Pictures of Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex

Careers at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex

If you are interested in a career with the Kentucky Department of Corrections at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex, you can click here for more information.