Prism, 07/10/24: “In 2018, a small coalition of residents, organizers, lawyers, and professors who organized to halt an eastern Kentucky prison construction rejoiced. The Department of Justice (DOJ) reversed course on its 2018 budget plan, rescinding $444 million earmarked for the construction of a federal prison in Roxana, Kentucky. The reason? The Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which is housed within the DOJ, didn’t feel like it was needed. Funds could be better spent elsewhere, like the infrastructure needs of the 123 existing federal prisons that were “deteriorating,” according to agency heads.

Former President Donald Trump later reinstated the prison construction budget, along with an additional $60 million, but the Abolitionist Law Center and 21 incarcerated people sued. A year later, the Record of Decision that gave the green light to build in the eastern Kentucky town was revoked, stopping what would have been the most expensive federal prison project ever, pushed forward by one of the most influential members of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Hal Rogers.

But that victory didn’t go unchallenged. In 2022, the Bureau of Prisons announced it was revisiting the idea of building a prison in Letcher County—only this time, it would be a lower-security federal correctional institution, and the initial capital investment would be $500 million.

Prisons as economic revitalization is a narrative that the region’s representative, Rogers, has successfully proffered since he first proposed the prison’s construction in 2006. The organizers pushing back against this falsehood are even more ready than they were 10 years ago to fight the new build. And this time, they’re not just talking about what they’re fighting against, but what they’re fighting for.”

Read the full article here.