SerpApi.Org
A local citizens' group in Letcher County, Kentucky, said the federal government appears to be slowly moving forward with plans to build a proposed massive federal prison — the fifth such facility in the region.
The project, initially funded with $500 million in 2016, faced stiff local opposition and was retracted but was revived a few years later.
Artie Ann Bates, secretary of the group Concerned Letcher Countians, said the Bureau of Prisons has yet to acknowledge new evidence showing the presence of endangered bat species on the prison site and flood risk to neighboring communities.
"The Bureau of Prisons continues to move forward as if that purchase never happened," Bates asserted. "Most significantly, they have not updated their environmental impact statement, which is a requirement under the National Environmental Policy Act."
In 2024, a local advocacy group, the Appalachian Rekindling Project, bought a small but critical portion of land where the proposed prison would be. The group secured 63 acres of 500 total. Supporters of the prison project said it will bring much-needed economic development to the region. No building construction has yet begun.
Bates believes the county is not equipped to handle the additional responsibilities associated with a large prison facility, which would house more than 1,000 incarcerated people.
"Our sheriff's office is not staffed enough to be open 24/7. It's open during regular business hours but not weekends or nighttime, and so the Kentucky State Police have to cover during those times, which causes them to be stretched thin," Bates pointed out.
Bates added the other federal prisons in neighboring Martin, McCreary, Clay, and Boyd counties have not fixed high unemployment and economic issues.
"Although they've had federal prisons for over 20 years in each of those counties, and they are still considered economically distressed by Appalachian Regional Commission criteria, and they've all three continued to have out-migration of their population," Bates noted.
According to the Kentucky Resources Council, more than 120 acres of forest habitat and 2 acres of wetlands will be destroyed, potentially endangering watersheds and wildlife.
