When Kentucky first became a state, it followed the penal code of Virginia that was based on English law and imposed the death penalty for more than two hundred offenses. On January 16, 1798, John Breckinridge introduced a bill in the House to revise the penal code. Breckinridge’s goals were to reform criminals, make restitution to the victims, repay the public for the cost of prosecution, and deter future crimes. The act, which passed in February, abolished the death penalty for all crimes except first-degree murder and provided for construction of a penitentiary, the first one west of the Allegheny Mountains.
A View of the State Penitentiary of Kentucky, painted in 1813, is attributed to naval officer Lieutenant Robert Irvine, captain of the Caledonia. Irvine, shown sketching in the foreground, was a British prisoner of war confined in Frankfort during the War of 1812. The prison was established in 1799 to hold state felons. KHS Collections.
