The prison is located in unincorporated Oldham County, Kentucky,[1] near La Grange,[2] and about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Louisville.

Funds for a second prison had been allocated in 1879 to be called the "Branch Penitentiary" and to be located in Eddyville, Kentucky.

Construction began in 1937 of the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange,[14] as designed by William Strudwick Arrasmith.

The Krause-Weilage Company of Louisville had the contract for air-conditioning the operating rooms in the hospital, in the Administration Building, and refrigeration equipment in the mess hall.

[18] Moving day from the temporary barracks, located about 800 yards away from the newly constructed structure occurred in March 1940.

Martin J. Wiman [29]—Jan 1966 June 1967-- James E. Howard [30]—Mar 1967 Nov 1970[31][32]—1967: No longer called wardens – now known as superintendents[33] Harold E. Black [34]—Nov 1970 – Aug 1977-- Dewey Sowders [35]—Aug 1977- Jan 1979 -- Stephen T. Smith [36]—Jan 1979-1980 -- John D. Rees [37][38]—1980 – 1986 [39]-- -Later John Rees became Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Corrections 2004–2008.

July 2020 Larry Chandler Named Warden[48] of the new prison Southern State Correctional Complex (SSCC), Wheelwright, Kentucky J. David Donahue [49]—2008 – 2009-- Cookie Crews [50]—2009 – 2012–2012 Cookie Crew was promoted[51] to health services administrator.

[52] Clark J. Taylor [53]—2012 – 2014—Retires [54] as warden at KSR in 2014 Aaron B. Smith [55]—2014 – 2018-- Anna L. Valentine [56]—2018 – current October 1, 1975 an announcement was made that a forensic psychiatric care unit would be built and operated at LaGrange State Reformatory by Gov.

The new facility to be jointly operated by Departments of Justice and Human Resources to provide psychiatric examination for persons needing that service prior to a court appearance.

[57] [58] On August 25, 1976 Jerald L. Kendrick, serving time at the Kentucky State Penitentiary, prepared a 40-page lawsuit and filed it in U.S. District Court at Paducah.

The decree set out in the agreement that the state spend nearly $50 million over a four or five year time to satisfy just some of the complaints that Kendrick raised in his suit.

That figure did not include $22 million that had already been spent on a new medium-security prison scheduled to open Fall of 1980 near the Reformatory.

John D. Rees,[62][63] was hired as warden by Department of Corrections Commissioner, George Wilson, to bring Kentucky State Reformatory into compliance under the Federal Consent Decree issued by U.S. District Judge Edward Johnstone.

According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, the purpose of the unit team is to help inmates with issues such as institutional programming, parole board preparation, classification reviews, and developing release plans.