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.”