As an environmental justice organization POWHR believes that all our struggles are connected.

We are partnering with the movement to stop the massive federal prison in Letcher County, KY to learn about and take action to stop the prison. For centuries, our region has been targeted by extractive industry, including fossil fuels and private prisons. The fossil fuel industry and state are currently trying to repress our opposition to the MVP by issuing egregious charges to pipeline resisters.

Our community has long been impacted by the horrors of mass incarceration. Join this webinar to hear more about how our fights are connected and take immediate action to stop the most expensive federal prison in US history.

This webinar will feature insights from community organizers Jordan Martinez-Mazurek (Fight Toxic Prisons) and Crystal Mello (POWHR & Roanoke Jail Solidarity) on how the fight to stop MVP is connected to the fight to stop the federal prison in Letcher County.

We will view a 30 minute film by Sylvia Ryerson called “Call from Home: Prison Radio in Appalachia,” followed by a discussion and an urgent call to action where we will write comments together about the proposed prison.

Background:

A proposed prison in Letcher County, Kentucky faces longstanding and growing opposition. The prison would be built on a former mountaintop removal coal mine site and cost taxpayers more than half a billion dollars. Anyone in a 500 mile radius of the prison – including West Virginians and Southwest Virginians – could be sent there.

On Friday March 1, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed prison. This means we have 45 days to mobilize public comment against the prison and draft EIS.

The prison was proposed in 2015 but was defeated by local organizers in 2019. Now they’re trying to ram it through again.