Letcher Governance Project

12/14/2017

“Five federal prisons and correctional institutions are in the region, and a new $444 million federal prison has been proposed by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who represents the 5th Congressional District of eastern Kentucky. It all makes central Appalachia one of the most concentrated regions of new prison growth, and one of the top 20 regions for prison population.”

For inmates that can’t afford phone calls, this weekly program connects them to faraway family and friends.

12/01/2017

http://www.letchergovproject.com/news/2017/12/1/bevin-administration-to-re-open-private-prison-in-beattyville-unsurprising-cca-donated-16500-to-hal-rogers-campaign-in-2012

In Letcher County, we have been fighting the construction of a proposed federal prison for many years. It is no secret that the prison industrial complex, and especially for-profit private prison companies, work directly with congressional reps like Hal Rogers for their own benefit. During Rogers’...

11/10/2017

From 2015 US Census Bureau Statistics:

**All counties in Eastern Kentucky with prisons have a lower median household income than Letcher County, and similar if not higher poverty rates**

Martin County Big Sandy Correctional (opened 2003)
Poverty rate: 40%
Median household income income: $25,795
Civilian Labor force participation rate: 29%

Morgan County (Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex) constructed 1986
Annual Operating Budget: $23 million
Poverty Rate: 30%
Median Household Income: $29,707
Civilian Labor Force participation rate: 38%

Elliott County (Little Sandy Correctional Complex) constructed 2001
Poverty Rate: 31%
Median Household Income: $28,224
Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 39%

Bell County (Bell County Forestry Camp) constructed 1962
Annual operating budget: $3.9 million
Poverty Rate: 45%
Median Household Income: $$22,443
Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 40.1%

Letcher County
Poverty Rate: 33%
Median Household Income: $30,333
Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 43%

10/29/2017

🚨ACTION ALERT🚨
Today is the FINAL day to submit comments against the proposed federal prison in Letcher County.

This is for a NEW comment period. So, even if you've commented before, please take a minute to do so again!

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/letcher-county-federal-prison-eis-is-back-lets-beat-it-once-and-for-all

Our community deserves investment that is not built on the backs of our own and other community's suffering. Our country deserves actions that will result in lifting up communities instead of putting more of them behind bars. We ask Rogers for support and he says "prison." We know federal prisons haven't been a great boon for Martin, McCreary, or Clay counties. Congressman Rogers knows better; he just won't do better.

Make sure BOP knows that the Department of Justice has said that they no longer need a new $444 million prison to be built in Eastern Kentucky, on a former coal mine.

06/15/2017

Check out The Mountain Eagle's recent coverage of the Letcher County prison saga. After several revisions to the Environmental Impact Statement, locals voicing concerns and opposing visions through , and continued decreases in national prison populations, the Bureau of Prisons may not get that $444 million after all.

The budget proposal sent to Congress by President Donald Trump would expressly cancel construction of a prison in Letcher County that is expected to employ up to 400 people, and reallocate the money for “other law enforcement priorities, such as immigration and violent crime.”

05/25/2017

Kentucky State Justice System in the news.

The state plans to close the Lincoln Village juvenile detention center, which is where 16-year-old Gynnya McMillen died last year.

05/04/2017

This is what Congressman Hal Rogers voted in favor of today. Commit it to memory.

05/03/2017

Submit your comment to Isaac Gaston, Site Selection Specialist for the Bureau of Prisons, at [email protected] by May 8.

The preferred site in Letcher County identified by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for a high-security prison is a spot at Roxana that was flattened by surface mining. Photo by Bill Estep with the Lexington Herald-Leader The Federal Bureau of Prisons has re-opened the Environmental Impact Statem

04/18/2017

Sounds like a good idea to us!

Some local leaders in Kentucky want to build a drug rehab center to hopefully reduce a county jail's overcrowding problem.

03/16/2017

The effort to build a federal prison in Letcher County did not begin in a political vacuum. It began in a tough-on-crime approach to policing, and the people that advocated for these policies are now in the top levels of the U.S. government. When we fight this prison, we're also fighting people like Jeff Sessions and Steve Cook.

Steve Cook, a former federal prosecutor, fiercely supports controversial policies calling for lengthy prison sentences.

03/14/2017

This is an amazing and comprehensive look at the prison industrial complex in the U.S. right now.

"While this pie chart provides a comprehensive snapshot of our correctional system, the graphic does not capture the enormous churn in and out of our correctional facilities and the far larger universe of people whose lives are affected by the criminal justice system. Every year, 641,000 people walk out of prison gates, but people go to jail over 11 million times each year."

Report showing the number of people who are locked up in different types of facilities and why

03/13/2017

"The jail is nothing but a sinkhole,” said William Hill, mayor of Corinth, which has about 180 residents.

A rural Kentucky county is being held prisoner by its own jail.