A Kentucky jailer faces a long stretch behind bars if he is convicted of forgery, theft and selling drugs to inmates.

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Jerry Taylor, the elected jailer of Whitley County, and his son and chief deputy, Jerry Allen Taylor, were both indicted by a grand jury, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. The father faces five counts each of forgery and theft, four each of drug trafficking and promoting contraband and one count of misfeasance. His son was charged with seven counts each of trafficking in controlled substances and promoting contraband.

State Corrections Commissioner John Rees closed down the county detention center in July, calling it a "den of iniquity" and "totally evil."

Taylor has been a longtime leader in the Republican Party, the newspaper said, serving as judge-executive for 20 years and then winning the jailer's post in 1998 and 2002 elections.

His career began to unravel when the county opened a new facility last year, and several inmates escaped almost immediately. An investigation found problems with Taylor's management, including male and female prisoners housed in close proximity, a situation that eventually led to an inmate's pregnancy.