Federal Agencies Ignore Environmental Health Risks for Millions of Prisoners | Truthout
Prison Reform: Reducing Recidivism by Strengthening the Federal Bureau of Prisons (justice.gov)
General - The Mountain Eagle Paid ad by CLC: OPEN GOVERNMENT? July 26, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2023
Contact: Dustin McDaniel, 412-651-7485, ops@alcenter.org
Judah Schept, 201-565-6583, judah.schept@gmail.com
Rep. Rogers Proposal Would Fast Track Prison Construction in Letcher County, KY
in an Attempt to Silence Opposition
Letcher County, KY - Amidst longstanding and growing local and national opposition to Federal
Correctional Institution (FCI) Letcher, Representative Hal Rogers (KY-5) has inserted language
into the House appropriations bill to fast track the construction of the new 1,408-bed federal
prison on a former mountaintop removal coal mine site in rural Eastern Kentucky. Building
Community Not Prisons, a coalition of local, state and national stakeholders opposed to FCI
Letcher, and Concerned Letcher Countians, a volunteer group dedicated to the county and its
future, are calling for the immediate removal of the language from the appropriations bill.
Found in Section 219, the language was added to the House appropriations bill last week and
directs a final decision on the construction of FCI Letcher to be made within 30 days, effectively
terminating the federally mandated environmental review process, pre-empting the required
public comment periods and barring public input on the project. These processes provide
essential checks on the prison’s potential environmental impacts on endangered bat habitat,
wetlands, and old growth forest, as well as public health consequences of arsenic and radon
exposure for both incarcerated people and correctional staff.
Furthermore, Section 219 strips federal courts of jurisdiction to hear any legal challenges to the
prison's construction, including challenges brought under the essential environmental protection
laws that, until recently, applied to every other federal construction project in the country.
Echoing the recent move by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to exempt the Mountain
Valley Pipeline from judicial review, Section 219 creates a dangerous precedent for future carve
outs to exempt federal projects from environmental protection laws.
"People in Letcher County deserve to have a say in this because we vote, we pay taxes, we live
here, and we love this place. We don’t want Representative Rogers stuffing something down our
throats that we are not in agreement with,” said Dr. Artie Ann Bates, of Concerned Letcher
Countians.
Community members and other stakeholders should have a say when it comes to such a
significant change in the community, particularly given the price tag of over $500 million
taxpayer dollars and the false promises of prison-based economic development.
“As a constituent of Congressman Rogers I am outraged that he would make this undemocratic
maneuver to shut down the voices of all of his constituents who know that this federal prison
isn’t needed, and who are desperately asking for housing, flood recovery assistance in the wake
of last summer’s devastating flood. This $500 million of taxpayer money should be used for
housing, flood clean up, and prevention, not this unnecessary prison,” said Beverly May, of
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.
Rep. Rogers is attempting this strongman tactic because this prison is clearly not needed. An
earlier attempt to build a prison in Letcher County was defeated in 2019, and both the Trump
and Biden Administrations have requested that the original funding for the prison be rescinded.
Even top officials at the Department of Justice have publicly stated this new construction is
unnecessary due to a declining federal prison population.
In addition to disregarding the needs of the local community, the construction of the prison has
consequences that reach far beyond Letcher County. FCI Letcher would fall within the Bureau of
Prison’s Mid-Atlantic Region, housing federal prisoners from as far away as Washington, D.C
and Memphis, Tennessee, and leaving many people disconnected from their local support
systems.
“In 2004 I went to USP [United States Penitentiary] - McCreary [in Eastern Kentucky]. It was
hard for me because I'm from Milwaukee. I got bused down there from FCI-Cumberland in
Maryland. We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, we don’t even know where we’re at, we pretty
much don't even understand the language, it’s like being in a foreign country,” said Ray
Mendoza, of Free Movement and on the advisory council for Dream.org. “You are way too far
from home to even consider getting a visit. It was difficult to stay connected with family, to keep
tabs on what is going on, you lose connection with everything.”
Mendoza’s experience of incarceration far from home is all too common. “The federal prison
population is largely comprised of Black and brown people who are removed from their
communities and often sent to far-away prisons like this one,” said Premal Dharia, Executive
Director of The Institute to End Mass Incarceration. “Communities that would lose loved ones to
this prison know that we need Congress to work to stem the growth of our uniquely destructive
system of mass incarceration. Instead, some legislators are now trying to bypass federal
environmental and other laws to expand it. Section 219 represents an attempt to short circuit
democracy, evade important environmental protections, and cause further damage to some of
our country's most vulnerable communities – in Appalachia and throughout the mid-Atlantic
region."
All communities that stand to be impacted by the construction of FCI Letcher should have the
ability to exercise their right to comment on the proposed prison, but Section 219 forecloses
those rights in its acceleration of the prison’s construction.
Section 219 was approved by the subcommittee and goes to the full House Appropriations
Committee as early as this week.
###
About Building Community Not Prisons and Concerned Letcher Countians:
Building Community Not Prisons is a coalition of people who oppose the construction of FCI
Letcher and demand better options for the people of Letcher County and the communities of
color that are most impacted by mass incarceration.
Concerned Letcher Countians, LLC, is a group of volunteers who care about their county and
its future. They seek respect for every person and the land. Most of all, they are working to
protect and provide a future for their youth. They believe that a prison will harm, not help their
county.
***
Flooding Hits American Towns Far From Oceans and Big Rivers - WSJ
“a trauma on top of the trauma”
www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/opinion/kentucky-prison-flood.html?unlocked_article_code=HJjfe2Hta1FiuMocyay01PBNntiGOXK9Bex-oIlzJRwDXaKu65nFyrGa2AhR37GQDhCBBIvkEIS1r5DHA_XNtkGmMIqAYJk5OROctuIIMERM3M2tKjVRYu9_6CF5OD33VYemsyviQXRVNC3CRQQeR3uObteugIsT4pMeFrVOXRSpIGwL61xzvXuKPSEdkHb2k322urAh-C0a6rHm4RzXnnSr7W30UqbYY92ejIAP4Bw7StueMblFaYrEjnGfttrXw-cD87B0-NJHPGe7c5PrNq2XDq0_a182chziegOraz4es_ue66wL8DHw8Tysa-90FSWn7m66Z8Lblij_vAhC&smid=url-share
Petition for Rescission of the $506,000,000
Home | No New Letcher Prison
Climate Resilience in Central Appalachia: Impacts and Opportunities - Invest Appalachia
https://www.investappalachia.org/climate-analysis
Warren Leads Colleagues Investigating the Revolving Door Between Federal Agencies and the Private Detention Industry | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (senate.gov)
<https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/reports/warren-leads-colleagues-investigating-the-revolving-door-between-federal-agencies-and-the-private-detention-industry
Three southeastern Kentucky counties already obtained federal prisons, and it did not pay off - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
https://kypolicy.org/letcher-county-prison-will-not-help-economy/
Prisons don’t bring prosperity to rural towns – Oregon Business
https://oregonbusiness.com/4176-prisons-dont-bring-prosperity-to-rural-towns/
We need a well-designed plan to repair or replace our crumbling federal prisons | The Hill
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/3866946-we-need-a-well-designed-plan-to-repair-or-replace-our-crumbling-federal-prisons/
Federal prison in Letcher County was bad idea the first time — let’s not revisit it
https://eedition.kentucky.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=1e119cbb-2282-4836-9819-c73cf8975e84&appcode=LEXHER&eguid=cdaf5112-4274-4dd2-af8c-6dff8261050f&pnum=15#
Is a federal prison really our best bet? Artie Ann Bates Letter to Editor Mountain Eagle, May 3, 2023
abates_letter_mtneagle_05032023.pdf
The Daily Yonder link to a video/podcast with Sylvia Ryerson and Judah Schept
https://dailyyonder.com/building-prison-cells-over-homes-in-central-appalachia/2023/05/05/
Census Bureau will count federal inmates as residents (corrections1.com)
https://www.corrections1.com/federal-prison/articles/census-bureau-will-count-federal-inmates-as-residents-KkgWTj1itQv9QHEt/
Federal Prisons Were Told to Provide Addiction Medications. Instead, They Punish People Who Use Them
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/12/12/suboxone-federal-prison-opioid-addiction-treatment-overdose
To fix our prison system, we need far more than a change in leadership - The Hill
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/586981-to-fix-our-prison-system-we-need-far-more-than-a-change-in/
A proposed prison in Letcher County, Ky. reopens old divides - Ohio Valley ReSource
Flooding Hits American Towns Far From Oceans and Big Rivers - WSJ
Prison Reform: Reducing Recidivism by Strengthening the Federal Bureau of Prisons (justice.gov)
General - The Mountain Eagle Paid ad by CLC: OPEN GOVERNMENT? July 26, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2023
Contact: Dustin McDaniel, 412-651-7485, ops@alcenter.org
Judah Schept, 201-565-6583, judah.schept@gmail.com
Rep. Rogers Proposal Would Fast Track Prison Construction in Letcher County, KY
in an Attempt to Silence Opposition
Letcher County, KY - Amidst longstanding and growing local and national opposition to Federal
Correctional Institution (FCI) Letcher, Representative Hal Rogers (KY-5) has inserted language
into the House appropriations bill to fast track the construction of the new 1,408-bed federal
prison on a former mountaintop removal coal mine site in rural Eastern Kentucky. Building
Community Not Prisons, a coalition of local, state and national stakeholders opposed to FCI
Letcher, and Concerned Letcher Countians, a volunteer group dedicated to the county and its
future, are calling for the immediate removal of the language from the appropriations bill.
Found in Section 219, the language was added to the House appropriations bill last week and
directs a final decision on the construction of FCI Letcher to be made within 30 days, effectively
terminating the federally mandated environmental review process, pre-empting the required
public comment periods and barring public input on the project. These processes provide
essential checks on the prison’s potential environmental impacts on endangered bat habitat,
wetlands, and old growth forest, as well as public health consequences of arsenic and radon
exposure for both incarcerated people and correctional staff.
Furthermore, Section 219 strips federal courts of jurisdiction to hear any legal challenges to the
prison's construction, including challenges brought under the essential environmental protection
laws that, until recently, applied to every other federal construction project in the country.
Echoing the recent move by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to exempt the Mountain
Valley Pipeline from judicial review, Section 219 creates a dangerous precedent for future carve
outs to exempt federal projects from environmental protection laws.
"People in Letcher County deserve to have a say in this because we vote, we pay taxes, we live
here, and we love this place. We don’t want Representative Rogers stuffing something down our
throats that we are not in agreement with,” said Dr. Artie Ann Bates, of Concerned Letcher
Countians.
Community members and other stakeholders should have a say when it comes to such a
significant change in the community, particularly given the price tag of over $500 million
taxpayer dollars and the false promises of prison-based economic development.
“As a constituent of Congressman Rogers I am outraged that he would make this undemocratic
maneuver to shut down the voices of all of his constituents who know that this federal prison
isn’t needed, and who are desperately asking for housing, flood recovery assistance in the wake
of last summer’s devastating flood. This $500 million of taxpayer money should be used for
housing, flood clean up, and prevention, not this unnecessary prison,” said Beverly May, of
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.
Rep. Rogers is attempting this strongman tactic because this prison is clearly not needed. An
earlier attempt to build a prison in Letcher County was defeated in 2019, and both the Trump
and Biden Administrations have requested that the original funding for the prison be rescinded.
Even top officials at the Department of Justice have publicly stated this new construction is
unnecessary due to a declining federal prison population.
In addition to disregarding the needs of the local community, the construction of the prison has
consequences that reach far beyond Letcher County. FCI Letcher would fall within the Bureau of
Prison’s Mid-Atlantic Region, housing federal prisoners from as far away as Washington, D.C
and Memphis, Tennessee, and leaving many people disconnected from their local support
systems.
“In 2004 I went to USP [United States Penitentiary] - McCreary [in Eastern Kentucky]. It was
hard for me because I'm from Milwaukee. I got bused down there from FCI-Cumberland in
Maryland. We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, we don’t even know where we’re at, we pretty
much don't even understand the language, it’s like being in a foreign country,” said Ray
Mendoza, of Free Movement and on the advisory council for Dream.org. “You are way too far
from home to even consider getting a visit. It was difficult to stay connected with family, to keep
tabs on what is going on, you lose connection with everything.”
Mendoza’s experience of incarceration far from home is all too common. “The federal prison
population is largely comprised of Black and brown people who are removed from their
communities and often sent to far-away prisons like this one,” said Premal Dharia, Executive
Director of The Institute to End Mass Incarceration. “Communities that would lose loved ones to
this prison know that we need Congress to work to stem the growth of our uniquely destructive
system of mass incarceration. Instead, some legislators are now trying to bypass federal
environmental and other laws to expand it. Section 219 represents an attempt to short circuit
democracy, evade important environmental protections, and cause further damage to some of
our country's most vulnerable communities – in Appalachia and throughout the mid-Atlantic
region."
All communities that stand to be impacted by the construction of FCI Letcher should have the
ability to exercise their right to comment on the proposed prison, but Section 219 forecloses
those rights in its acceleration of the prison’s construction.
Section 219 was approved by the subcommittee and goes to the full House Appropriations
Committee as early as this week.
###
About Building Community Not Prisons and Concerned Letcher Countians:
Building Community Not Prisons is a coalition of people who oppose the construction of FCI
Letcher and demand better options for the people of Letcher County and the communities of
color that are most impacted by mass incarceration.
Concerned Letcher Countians, LLC, is a group of volunteers who care about their county and
its future. They seek respect for every person and the land. Most of all, they are working to
protect and provide a future for their youth. They believe that a prison will harm, not help their
county.
***
Flooding Hits American Towns Far From Oceans and Big Rivers - WSJ
“a trauma on top of the trauma”
www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/opinion/kentucky-prison-flood.html?unlocked_article_code=HJjfe2Hta1FiuMocyay01PBNntiGOXK9Bex-oIlzJRwDXaKu65nFyrGa2AhR37GQDhCBBIvkEIS1r5DHA_XNtkGmMIqAYJk5OROctuIIMERM3M2tKjVRYu9_6CF5OD33VYemsyviQXRVNC3CRQQeR3uObteugIsT4pMeFrVOXRSpIGwL61xzvXuKPSEdkHb2k322urAh-C0a6rHm4RzXnnSr7W30UqbYY92ejIAP4Bw7StueMblFaYrEjnGfttrXw-cD87B0-NJHPGe7c5PrNq2XDq0_a182chziegOraz4es_ue66wL8DHw8Tysa-90FSWn7m66Z8Lblij_vAhC&smid=url-share
Petition for Rescission of the $506,000,000
Home | No New Letcher Prison
Climate Resilience in Central Appalachia: Impacts and Opportunities - Invest Appalachia
https://www.investappalachia.org/climate-analysis
Warren Leads Colleagues Investigating the Revolving Door Between Federal Agencies and the Private Detention Industry | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (senate.gov)
<https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/reports/warren-leads-colleagues-investigating-the-revolving-door-between-federal-agencies-and-the-private-detention-industry
Three southeastern Kentucky counties already obtained federal prisons, and it did not pay off - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
https://kypolicy.org/letcher-county-prison-will-not-help-economy/
Prisons don’t bring prosperity to rural towns – Oregon Business
https://oregonbusiness.com/4176-prisons-dont-bring-prosperity-to-rural-towns/
We need a well-designed plan to repair or replace our crumbling federal prisons | The Hill
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/3866946-we-need-a-well-designed-plan-to-repair-or-replace-our-crumbling-federal-prisons/
Federal prison in Letcher County was bad idea the first time — let’s not revisit it
https://eedition.kentucky.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=1e119cbb-2282-4836-9819-c73cf8975e84&appcode=LEXHER&eguid=cdaf5112-4274-4dd2-af8c-6dff8261050f&pnum=15#
Is a federal prison really our best bet? Artie Ann Bates Letter to Editor Mountain Eagle, May 3, 2023
abates_letter_mtneagle_05032023.pdf
The Daily Yonder link to a video/podcast with Sylvia Ryerson and Judah Schept
https://dailyyonder.com/building-prison-cells-over-homes-in-central-appalachia/2023/05/05/
Census Bureau will count federal inmates as residents (corrections1.com)
https://www.corrections1.com/federal-prison/articles/census-bureau-will-count-federal-inmates-as-residents-KkgWTj1itQv9QHEt/
Federal Prisons Were Told to Provide Addiction Medications. Instead, They Punish People Who Use Them
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/12/12/suboxone-federal-prison-opioid-addiction-treatment-overdose
To fix our prison system, we need far more than a change in leadership - The Hill
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/586981-to-fix-our-prison-system-we-need-far-more-than-a-change-in/
A proposed prison in Letcher County, Ky. reopens old divides - Ohio Valley ReSource
Flooding Hits American Towns Far From Oceans and Big Rivers - WSJ