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Southeastern Kentucky could soon have a fourth federal prison.

Congressman Hal Rogers stopped in Letcher County where community members have formed a committee in an effort to attract the bureau of prisons to the region, one more time.

No other region in the country has three federal prisons and southeastern Kentucky could soon be the home of a fourth site for the bureau of prisons.

"They like the reception they've had in eastern Kentucky and they like the fact that we were able to insert money in the budget to allow them to build another prison in the region where the need is great," Rogers said.

Members of the Letcher County Planning Commission say the county needs the four to five hundred jobs that the prison would bring.

"We've had nine rail mines that have gone by the wayside in the last eight years and we don't have anything to replace the employment in those mines," Don Childers said.

Five million dollars has been allocated for the federal bureau of prisons to research the mid-atlantic region for possible sites and Hal Rogers says he pointed the B.O.P. toward Letcher County.

"Letcher County has been focused on this for two to three years, no one else in my district has come that far. They have specifically organized a committee in the county to go after the federal prison so I'm trying to help them," Rogers said.

It's help that some residents say will last for generations.

Rogers says there is still an application process and the bureau of prisons will begin their study on possible communities.