FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky jail has been closed after the detention center was unable to fix problems with its smoke evacuation system, corrections officials said Friday.
The Kentucky Department of Corrections said in a news release that Bell County Detention Center in Pineville must be evacuated by Wednesday.
The department previously ordered the jail closed by Dec. 1. But jail officials made minimal progress correcting violations related to the system, and an extension was given until Thursday.
The jail’s closing came after officials determined the smoke evacuation system “is still inoperable,” the department said.
Inmate living areas would be unprotected in a fire without a functioning smoke evacuation system, the department said.
Kentucky’s correction’s department has the authority to close a jail if there is a violation of health and life safety protection regulations.
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