The prison has housed both male and female inmates at different times, from Kentucky and from Hawaii.

[3] In 2008, a secretarial employee of the center fatally shot herself in the office of then-warden Joyce Arnold, raising questions about how the weapon had been smuggled in past security.

[4] Amid other allegations of mismanagement and poor medical care,[5] Hawaii removed its 168 female inmates from Otter Creek beginning in 2009 over multiple charges of sexual abuse.

In May 2020, Bevin's successor, Andy Beshear, announced that the prison would reopen in September 2020.

The facility officially reopened under state management in September 2022 housing male inmates.