The Bureau of Prisons has filed a new notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for a new federal prison in Letcher County, Ky.
It’s been three years since the Bureau of Prisons withdrew its original more than $500 million plan for a maximum security prison in Letcher County. That project had been in motion since 2005, heavily backed by Republican Hal Rogers, a U.S. Congressman from Kentucky who represents parts of eastern Kentucky. It would have been one of the most expensive prisons ever built in the country. The region’s representatives have pursued prison-building as a means of economic development; as the Ohio Valley ReSource previously reported, Rogers has worked to have three prisons built in his district. Like other American states, Kentucky has a higher incarceration rate per 100,000 people than any other country, according to data from the Prison Policy Initiative.
