Building Community Not Prisons Coalition
Stop § 219 in the House Appropriations Bill -- No New Letcher Prison!

We have some good news!!! We still have time to remove section 219 from teh House CJS Appropriations Bill.   Thanks to thousands of individuals like you that have reached out to Congress about the Letcher Prison Project, Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC) recently submitted an amendment to stip § 219 from the House CJS Appropriations Bill. It had eleven co-sponsors from around the country. While the Amendment failed in the Rules Committee, because Congress has yet to pass an appropriations bill for FY24, we still have time to stop not only fast tracking the construction of this terrible project, but stopping its construction entirely. 

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TODAY AND ASK REMOVE 219 FROM THE HOUSE CJS APPROPRIATIONS BILL and TO RESCIND THE FUNDING FOR THIS WASTEFUL PROJECT!

What Happened:

As a brief reminder, Section 219 of the House Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Appropriations Markup will fast track the construction of a 1,400-bed federal prison on a former mountaintop removal coal mine site in rural Eastern Kentucky and shield BOP from lawsuits by incarcerated people and correctional officers at the prison. 

If Section 219 passes it will bypass the environmental review process by relying on an outdated environmental impact study from 2017; strip citizens of their rights to provide public comment; divests citizens of our right to seek judicial review of the proposed construction of an unneeded $500 million federal prison; and prevent people incarcerated at the new prison from enforcing their rights.

At a ticket of $506,000,000 and over $50,000,000 annually to operate, this proposed prison would sink Letcher County and US taxpayers into a lifelong burden of expense. And for what? Despite being home to federal prisons, Martin, Clay and McCreary counties remain “distressed” by Appalachian Regional Commission economic criteria. Prisons are not an economic solution and jobs at those prisons have not materialized in any meaningful way for local people.

We need you to continue to act in opposition to this prison!  Join Us Today!

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TAKE A STAND TODAY

TELL CONGRESS TO 

REMOVE § 219 FROM CJS APPROPRIATIONS BILL

 

No matter anyone's position or opinion about the proposed new federal prison at Roxana, KY, Section 219 is unacceptable. To circumvent the right to be notified, heard, and to speak out on a topic is an egregious violation of core democratic principles. This is especially true when the issue involves hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

 

Section 219 will strip us of our constitutional right to participate in any major environmental decision made by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in its construction of an unneeded prison on top of a former mountaintop removal coal mine. 

 

Specifically, with regards to the proposed Letcher federal prison, § 219 of CJS's Appropriations Bill (pg. 73 here) mandates:

 

1) The Attorney General to stop its Environmental Impact Review and begin prison construction in 30 days; 

2) The Attorney General to refuse the public's rights to comment on an updated Environmental Impact Statement; and 

3) That opponents of the new prison be stripped of their right to petition the courts to review BOP's compliance with federal law in pursuing this prison construction project.

4) That jurisdiction be stripped from the federal courts concerning any operational matter with this prison.  This means that incarcerated people could not sue the BOP for a vareity of issues such as civil rights violations, and violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act. 

 

 

Join us in maintaining our right to have a voice in the future of our county, as we work to build REAL solutions for Letcher County that do not perpetuate the suffering and horror of mass incarceration.

 

Ask your Congressional Delegation to support the removal of  Section 219 from the House Commerce, Justice and Science 2024 Appropriations Bill; and to rescind the funding for this unneeded and wasteful project.