Two top officials at a Kentucky prison left their jobs earlier this year after investigators determined they were getting paid for hundreds of hours they weren’t actually working, according to newly released state documents.
On Feb. 22, the Kentucky Department of Corrections fired Charles Craig Hughes, who made $98,315 a year as the warden of Southeast State Correctional Complex in Floyd County. Hughes was named warden in 2021.
Danny Dean McGraw, who made $76,094 annually as the prison’s deputy warden, resigned the same day.
The Herald-Leader reported in March on the men’s sudden departure from the medium-security prison. But at that time, the Department of Corrections refused to provide an explanation.
The Herald-Leader obtained internal investigative documents this week through the Open Records Act. The documents show that the department, acting on a tip in February, looked back at Hughes and McGraw’s state vehicle usage and daytime locations for much of the year 2023 and early 2024.