FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky officials are in talks to extend the state's contract with a private women's prison despite recent allegations of sexual abuse against inmates there, including some from Hawai'i.

The state so far has agreed to a 60-day contract extension with Corrections Corp. of America, which runs the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, the Courier-Journal of Louisville reported Monday.

State officials are working on a two-year contract extension with the company, said Don Speer, the Finance and Administration Cabinet's procurement services executive director.

"Our assessment is that it is more effective to rectify the situation there at Otter Creek than find alternative forms of incarceration for our inmate population housed there," Kentucky Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb said in a statement.

Officials from Kentucky and Hawai'i are investigating sexual abuse allegations at the prison involving 16 inmates from Kentucky and three from Hawai'i, the newspaper reported.

Kentucky State Police spokesman Mike Goble said authorities are planning to present a county grand jury with a possible sexual abuse case later this month.

The Louisville newspaper reported that at least five Otter Creek employees in three years have been charged with having sexual contact with inmates.