Corrections system seen as an issue in deputy sheriff’s death

Partial blame on a legislature that “has continuously looked for ways to release inmates because of the serious expense associated with imprisoning them.”

PADUCAH, Ky. - As shockwaves from the May shooting of Calloway County Chief Deputy Jody Cash continue to reverberate across the area, officials and others with knowledge of the case are speaking out against a prison and parole “revolving door” they see as partly responsible for Cash’s death.

The man that state police have said killed the 44-year-old Cash in a May 16 incident outside the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office had been charged with violating parole several times and was wanted on parole violation and failure to appear charges at the time of his arrest, records show.

Gary Rowland, 30, had most recently been released from a prison in Ohio after serving out a parole revocation there, according to a minister who frequently corresponded with Rowland during his time in prison.

Rev. Jon Kitto, who runs Anglican Prison Ministry in Indiana, spoke recently regarding his years-long correspondence with Rowland and how he considers the parole and prison systems “accomplices” in Cash’s killing.

For Kitto, though he considered Rowland a friend, his decision to pull the trigger will always be the single most important factor in Cash’s death.

“As a 30-year-old man, you are responsible for your own decisions,” Kitto said.

But he added that, in his opinion, a corrections system more interested in correcting than punishing, and better oversight from the parole system, could have prevented the situation from ever occurring.

Kitto says he first met Rowland after seeing his profile on an inmate correspondence website. A cached version of part of Rowland’s profile on that site says he was interested in “Educational” and “Guidance & Career” counseling.

Kitto said he exchanged hundreds of emails and phone calls with Rowland, speaking sometimes daily, beginning in early 2019 while Rowland was incarcerated on charges from Marshall County, including firearm-enhanced trafficking in methamphetamine.

Following his release on parole in May 2021, Rowland was released to Ohio to serve a probation revocation on a previous conviction in Hamilton County, Kitto said.

Ohio corrections officials have not been reachable for comment regarding Rowland’s parole conditions or status.

When Rowland was released from Ohio later that year, Kitto said he picked Rowland up from a private prison and gave him a loaner cell phone.

And despite Rowland’s stated intention of not returning to Murray, Kitto said others convinced Rowland to stay.

At the end of January, after Rowland had stopped communicating with Kitto, and Kitto received his phone back from Rowland, the minister said he began receiving texts on that phone about Rowland buying and selling drugs.

Kitto remembered feeling “freaking livid” about the messages.

He recalled a previous phone conversation with Rowland where he told him “that he was either going to be dead or in prison within six months.”

“I got off the phone and I turned him in,” Kitto said.

Kitto provided a screen shot of an email he says he sent to the local corrections office on Feb. 13. He said he never received a response.

A corrections spokesperson said Friday that the Probation and Parole department “investigated the situation and took appropriate action,” but did not describe the actions taken.

Records provided by the Calloway County Sheriff’s Office and confirmed by the Department of Corrections show a parole violation warrant was issued April 13.

A corrections spokesperson said previously that no parole violation warrant had been issued, but a different spokesperson clarified that the document was not provided in response to a recent open records request because it had been rescinded upon Rowland’s death and did not appear in the department’s offender management program.

In a statement, Circuit Judge Jamie Jameson, who sits in Marshall and Calloway counties, laid partial blame on a legislature that “has continuously looked for ways to release inmates because of the serious expense associated with imprisoning them.”

“Many are released so quickly now that there is almost no incentive to follow the law,” Jameson said.

While he praised the idea that the correctional system should look toward rehabilitation, especially for drug offenders, he pointed to the 34 years of sentences Rowland had been given over the 12 years since he had turned 18.

“And yet, the Kentucky parole board gave him the privilege of parole, which he very quickly violated, told officers he wasn’t going down without a fight, and then killed Jody Cash while Jody was trying to accommodate him,” Jameson said in his statement.

“It is so horribly tragic and could have been prevented. I just hope that this tragic loss will serve as a catalyst for review of how we deal with pretrial and early prison release.”