Chickamauga Nation leaders set to provide updates related to Franklin County prison site this Thursday in Charleston

by Penny Weaver

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/oct/08/chickamauga-nation-leaders-set-to-provide-updates/

CHARLESTON — Leaders of the Chickamauga Nation have set a news conference for Thursday evening to provide an update on their communications with the state regarding the Franklin County property selected for construction of a new 3,000-bed prison.

The event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Charleston Community Center, 311 Freedom Road, according to Western Region Medal Chief Justin Flanagan.

Tribe history, current events and the Chickamauga Nation’s communications with state officials will be the topics discussed, Flanagan said Tuesday.


After a PowerPoint presentation, Flanagan will take questions from those attending, he added.

The state’s $2.95 million purchase of about 815 acres of pasture land in Franklin County to build a new correctional facility and ease overcrowding in the Department of Corrections was announced in October 2024 by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The prison at Mill Creek Mountain, about seven miles north of Charleston, would be the largest in the state.

In mid-March, leaders of the Chickamauga urged corrections department officials and other leaders involved in advancing the new correctional facility plan to consider a cultural impact study at the site.


The tribe wants to examine potential stone box grave sites of tribal ancestors on the land intended for the prison construction. Flanagan and other Chickamauga leaders have said archaeological findings on land near and around the state site indicate that land also may be part of sacred grounds.

In mid-May, the Department of Corrections announced it was preparing to study whether the site contains archaeological or culture artifacts, according to a Spring 2025 Project Update posted on the department’s webpage dedicated to the Franklin County project.