Aaron Smith claims the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet fired him when he refused to agree that James Erwin, the commissioner responsible for the state prison system, had committed wrongdoing. 

In recent weeks, WDRB looked at lawsuits, reviewed hundreds of pages of internal investigative documents and interviewed past and present employees at the prison. Combined, the information paints a picture of a volatile work environment where complaints of sexual harassment, hostile working conditions and retaliation were often ignored or led to superficial investigations.

The state’s former corrections leader, who was let go in February, claims the probe wasn’t thorough and refused to fire two supervisors accused of abuse.