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Abstract. The U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) assessed the feasibility of developing a United States Penitentiary (USP) over a narrow reclaimed ridge-top coal strip mine in Martin County Kentucky. The assessment addressed the potential for ground subsidence, thickness and character of fill placed over the former strip mine and within adjacent valleys, development of alternatives for placement of the USP, and an assessment of fill compaction techniques.Drilling and trenching programs determined the thickness of reclamation fill over the mine bench varied from 4.57 meters (m) (15 ft) to 17.4 m (57 ft) and consisted of cobbles with large boulders in an uncompacted, soft silty to clayey SAND matrix. Fill of similar composition exists on sideslopes and in adjacent valleys (hollows) to a depth of 1.5 m (5 ft) to 54.8 m (180 ft). Voids of varying size, including subsidence features were observed within the fill.