A community building and land restoration group bought a plot of Letcher County land that’s been targeted for a new federal prison.
The Appalachian Rekindling Project paid local property owners $160,000 in late December for 63 acres near the community of Roxana, according to a deed of sale obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. The land makes up a portion of the 500-acre site where the Bureau of Prisons planned to build an estimated $500 million prison complex to incarcerate more than 1,300 people.
The Appalachian Rekindling Project wants to instead reclaim the former strip mine by reintroducing native species like bison to the land, according to a press release from the group.
“I think this is going to give folks an alternative choice,” said Mitch Whitaker, who owns property about a mile from the proposed prison site. “If they're going to do something with the land, this would be a much better solution.”
Whitaker was part of a lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons challenging plans to build a prison here in 2017. The Bureau of Prisons temporarily dropped the proposal two years later.
The proposal for a new prison resurfaced in 2022. Whitaker said he has been disheartened lately that Rep. Hal Rogers of eastern Kentucky appeared to put the prison build on a fast track while ignoring concerns from locals who opposed the project.
Rep. Rogers, a powerful lawmaker who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, has supported building prisons in eastern Kentucky as a way to bring much needed jobs to the area. The proposed prison would be the fifth in eastern Kentucky.
In an emailed statement, Rogers said this news “comes as no surprise.”
“A small contingency of individuals has been against the proposed Letcher County federal prison from day one,” the statement said. “This group clearly intends to obstruct the Bureau of Prisons’ construction plans in Letcher County and stop good paying jobs from being created in a rural area where they’re needed the most.”
The statement said Rogers has requested the Bureau provide a report on the impact of this land purchase on the construction plans.
“If the prison isn’t built in Roxana, Kentucky, it will be built somewhere else,” the statement said. “This land purchase will not stop construction of BOP’s next prison.”
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said the agency is "moving forward with the acquisition process."
President Donald Trump rescinded funding for the prison during his previous term. Hugh Hurwitz, who served as Trump’s Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said the Letcher County prison was a bad use of federal funds. Federal prison populations are declining and Hurwitz said the Letcher County site lacked needed infrastructure.
Joan Steffen, an attorney with the Institute to End Mass Incarceration, worked with the Appalachian Rekindling Project to purchase the land. Both groups are part of a coalition called Building Communities Not Prisons that emerged to fight against the proposed prison in Letcher County and mass incarceration nationwide.
Steffen said the land purchase is a win not just for Letcher County, but for the country as well.
“We're at this pivot point where we're seeing many of these prison construction projects across the country, and are confronted with a question of whether we as a nation want to continue to invest our resources back into the system of incarceration or if we want to start investing in other forms of addressing harm and benefiting our communities,” Steffen said.
Whitaker is excited to see a plan for the land that he says aligns more closely with the character and needs of eastern Kentucky. The Appalachian Rekindling Project, whose founder and co-director is from Letcher County, says they plan to hire local workers to help build and maintain their project.
A federally permitted wildlife rehabber and master falconer, Whitaker said he looks forward to getting involved with the new project.
“This is still a beautiful, beautiful location. There's the most beautiful sunsets up there,” Whitaker said. “You can see the Pine Mountain range from up there, you can see the big mountain, and it's just a special place.”
