Washington, D.C. – During a budget hearing for the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Loretta Lynch confirmed that the Bureau of Prisons plans to utilize $444 million in federal funding for fiscal year 2016 to construct a federal prison in Letcher County.
As Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Kentucky U.S. Representative Hal Rogers voted for and helped author the federal Omnibus appropriations bill that passed in December, including funding for BOP.
“Those funds are going to build a new prison in Kentucky – in Letcher County,” said Attorney General Lynch. “That’s certainly an important part of reducing our issues of overcrowding – issues of correctional officer safety, as well as inmate safety are certainly implicated by that.”
Attorney General Lynch’s comments come ahead of Bureau of Prison’s “Record of Decision” to build a facility in Eastern Kentucky, which is expected to be released by May 2016.
Rogers applauds the Bureau’s plan to build another facility in Kentukcy to help address overcrowding, safety of correctional officers and diminishing violence and disease among inmates.
“With funding in place and the completion of environmental studies, the Bureau can move forward with the first phase of this project – design, water and sewer – once the Director signs the official record of decision this Spring,” said Rogers. “This facility will provide hundreds of good paying, full-time jobs as our region struggles to rebound from the devastating loss of more than 10,000 coal mining jobs over the last eight years. It’s also a testament to the perseverance and hard work of the Letcher County Planning Commission that has worked diligently to bring a federal prison to Letcher County.”
A 700-acre site in Roxana was recently selected by the Bureau, following the completion of an environmental impact study, as the best location for the federal prison that is expected to bring an estimated 300 full-time jobs to the region.
Click here to watch the full budget hearing for the U.S. Department of Justice.
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