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Kentucky State Penitentiary
State prisonMaximumOvercrowded (100%)LowHigh
Verified
Fresh · 2mo ago
Sources last reviewed on
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
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Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
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Photo by Tennessee Valley Authority via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Kentucky State Penitentiary is a state prison located in Lyon County, Kentucky. Rated capacity: 849. Reported population: 849. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.
Background
The Kentucky State Penitentiary (KSP), also known as the "Castle on the Cumberland", is a maximum security and supermax prison with capacity for 856 prisoners located in Eddyville, Kentucky on Lake Barkley on the Cumberland River, about 4.8 kilometres (3 mi) from downtown Eddyville. It is managed by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. Completed in 1886, it is Kentucky's oldest prison facility and the only commonwealth-owned facility with supermax units. The penitentiary houses Kentucky's male death row inmates and the commonwealth's execution facility. As of 2015, it had approximately 350 staff members and an annual operating budget of $20 million.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
849
Current population
849
Occupancy
100%
Year opened
1889
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1889
Region
Kentucky
Security level
Maximum
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Notable inmates
- Harry Edward Greenwell1944–2013 · serial killer
Harry Edward Greenwell (December 9, 1944 â January 31, 2013), known as The I-65 Killer and The Days Inn Killer, was an American serial killer and rapist who committed at least three murders along Interstate 65 in Indiana and Kentucky between 1987 and 1989.
Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.
Contact & address
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
5/100
Low concern5/100
- Overcrowding
- 5/30
- Oversight reports
- 0/30
- Structural flags
- 0/15
- Death signals
- 0/15
- Conditions text
- 0/10
What the score is responding to:
- · Operating at 100% of design capacity
This facility scores 5. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 3 points above national average.
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- Woodman State JailGatesvilleMaximumState prison720% occupancy
- Centinela State Prison (Cen)ImperialMaximumState prison150% occupancy
- Kern Valley State Prison (Kvsp)DelanoMaximumState prison152% occupancy
- Diagnostic And Evaluation CenterLincolnMaximumState prison178% occupancy
- High Desert State Prison (Hdsp)SusanvilleMaximumState prison152% occupancy
- Calipatria State Prison (Cal)CalipatriaMaximumState prison161% occupancy
Compared to other facilities in United States
7436 peersOccupancythis: 100% · peers avg: 93% (+8%)
Capacity (beds)this: 849 · peers avg: 547 (+55%)
Data completeness
74%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries
- HIFLD dataset query
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- HIFLD Prison Boundaries — US Department of Homeland Security â HIFLD Open Data
- OpenStreetMap — OpenStreetMap Contributors
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q6392395)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
APA
World Prisons. (2026). Kentucky State Penitentiary. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/kentucky-state-penitentiary
Chicago
"Kentucky State Penitentiary." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/kentucky-state-penitentiary.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-kentucky-state-penitentiary,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {Kentucky State Penitentiary},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/kentucky-state-penitentiary},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}