Environmental Injustice at Toxic Appalachian Prisons

In the United States, both federal and state governments continue to build prisons at toxic locations despite the serious health and safety hazards for prisoners. This Article discusses how the convergence of destructive and toxic mining operations with the rural prison boom in the Appalachian Mountain region has resulted in grave human rights violations at the hands of government actors. “Toxic prison siting,” the practice of constructing new prisons at toxic former mining sites, in Appalachia continues to violate the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health as laid out in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This Article begins with an explanation of how federal and state governments uniquely targeted the Appalachian region during the rural prison boom of the 1990s. Such an explanation also requires an understanding of the historical underpinnings and evolution of coal mining in the Appalachian Mountains. The Article continues by describing the issue of toxic prison siting at former mining locations and the human rights violations that occur as a result. A discussion on possible paths for recourse for people impacted by toxic prison siting follows, providing suggestions for relief—both for people of Appalachian regional origin and incarcerated individuals. State and federal governments must be held responsible for the discriminatory impact of their prison siting decisions on certain populations. Specifically, enumerating “Appalachian regional origin” as a protected class and expanding and equalizing the application of the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment standard present opportunities for accountability.