April 2024
NO NEW LETCHER PRISON FILM TOUR
CALLS FROM HOME is going on tour with the Building Community Not Prisons (BCNP) coalition, in the campaign against F.C.I. Letcher – the most expensive federal prison project in U.S. history - that is currently slated to be built on a former mountaintop removal coal mine just 10 miles from the WMMT-FM radio station. If built, F.C.I. Letcher would become the ninth prison to fall within the broadcast area of WMMT-FM, incarcerating more than 1,400 people hundreds of miles from home.
We are in a critical moment in this campaign and we need your help!
Every screening event will be followed by a discussion with BCNP organizers & a direct CALL TO ACTION to submit written comments against F.C.I. Letcher to the Federal Bureau of Prisons before the current public comment period closes at midnight on April 15th, 2024.
Come learn from those who are fighting this prison on the ground, from Letcher County, Kentucky to Washington, D.C., on how we’re working together to STOP this construction and demand better for all our communities.
All screenings are free & open to the public, see links for RSVP info
April 9 - POWHR Online Screening
Tuesday April 9, 7:00 - 8:00 PM
Screening with POWHR @ 7 PM EST
Connecting Our Fights: Prisons and Pipelines
April 10 - CAMBRIDGE, MA
Wednesday April 10, 12:15 - 1:30 PM
Screening with the Institute to End Mass Incarceration
April 11 - HENDERSON, NC
Thursday April 11th, 6:30 - 8 PM
Screening with Working Films at Flat Rock Cinema
2700-D Greenville Hwy., Flat Rock, NC 28731
April 11 - CHICAGO, IL
Thursday April 11, 5:00-6:30 PM
Screening at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture
5733 S. University Ave. Chicago, IL 60637
April 12 - MEMPHIS, TN
Friday April 12, 4:30-6:30 PM
Renasant Convention Center
255 N Main St, Memphis, TN 38103
April 13 - ASHEVILLE, NC
Saturday April 13, 4:00 - 6:00 PM
Screening w the Asheville Community Bail Fund
At Firestorm Books and livestreamed on @avlbail ig
1022 Haywood Rd, Asheville NC
April 13 - ANNANDALE, VA
Saturday April 13, 5:00 - 7:00 PM
Screening with Interfaith Action for Human Rights
Little River United Church of Christ
8410 Little River Turnpike, Annandale VA
April 14 - ARLINGTON, VA
Sunday April 14, 1:00 - 2:15 pm
Screening at the Inthrive Film Festival
VanMetre Auditorium-Mason Square
3351 Fairfax Dr.
Arlington VA, 22201
April 15 - SPRINGFIELD, MO
Monday April 15, 4:30-6:00 PM
Screening at the Plaster Student Union (PSU) Auditorium
Missouri State University
April 15 - ONLINE SCREENING w/ the BCNP Coalition!
Monday April 15, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Help Us Stop FCI Letcher: A Film Screening, Teach-In, & CALL TO ACTION
Can’t join one of these screening events? Host your own DIY screening & public comment writing party! Until April 15th, Calls from Home is freely available for streaming on inquest.org, with info on how to submit your comment today!
Background: On Friday, March 1st, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) published their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) concerning the proposed $500+ million construction of Federal Correctional Institution Letcher (FCI Letcher), a 1,408-bed federal prison sited on a former mountaintop removal coal mine site in Roxana, KY. This release opened up a 45-day public comment period on the prison.
Until April 15th, anyone in the United States can submit a comment on this proposed prison.
Join Building Community Not Prisons (BCNP) in opposing this prison, and demanding that these federal funds be reinvested in all the things that actually keep us safe - like quality & affordable housing, education, healthcare, and more! BCNP is hoping to flood the BOP with letters asking that this prison be stopped before April 15th & we need your help!
JOIN THE ONGOING CAMPAIGNS & TAKE ACTION
Building Community Not Prisons is a national coalition working to stop the construction of USP-Letcher, a $500+ million federal prison proposed for Letcher County, Kentucky (the home of WMMT-FM) on a former coal mine. The coalition consists of concerned Letcher Countians, local landowners, currently incarcerated individuals, environmentalists, movement lawyers, national organizers, and more, and is building an opposition to this prison that is rooted in multiracial solidarity between differently impacted communities on the frontlines of mass incarceration, climate catastrophe, and economic abandonment.
Notwithstanding overwhelming public opposition to the prison, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) announcing that it plans to move forward with construction. This kicks off a 45-day public comment period ending on April 15th. Anyone from across the country can submit comments expressing their opposition.
Please write a public Comment directly to the Bureau of Prisons by April 15th challenging this Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).
The Solitary No More VA campaign aims to end the use of long-term isolation in United States Prisons, beginning the battle in the DMV area (District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia).
Interfaith Action for Human Rights (IAHR) represents people of faith and allies who educate and advocate in Maryland, DC, and Virginia for corrections systems to abolish unnecessarily punitive practices such as solitary confinement and to instead focus on rehabilitation and successful reentry of our citizens. The IAHR Campaign for Justice and Healing is an initiative to make the transformation of the systems of incarceration in our region a top-of-mind concern of citizens, the media, and legislators through public education, media initiatives, and legislative advocacy.