From 2015-2019, Letcher County residents, currently incarcerated individuals, environmentalists, prison justice reformers and lawyers worked together to stop the construction of the most expensive federal prison in US history – USP Letcher. The campaign culminated with a first of its kind litigation where both prisoners and local Letcher County residents sued the BOP under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) (See Barroca v. BOP, case no. 18-2740 D.D.C. 2018). In an unprecedented victory for the health of prisoners, the surrounding community, and the local environment, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) canceled the project in 2019.
Unfortunately, the BOP is again attempting to build a new $500+ million prison in Letcher County, on top of a former coal mine. Any new prison construction undermines progressive criminal justice reform, the health of our climate, and the region's ecology. And we are prepared to stop it again -- but we need your help. For us, the frontlines are multi-faceted. A new prison in coal country will both devastate the rural environment and community surrounding it; and put at risk the health of the predominantly Black, Brown, and Indigenous people locked inside of it.
We can stop its construction by getting Congress to stop its funding. Demand Congress rescind the $505 Million allocated for this project in the FY25 Budget.
Please take the few seconds needed to let your Congressional Delegation know that you do not support funding the construction of this new prison.