The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP Leavenworth) is a medium security U.S. penitentiary with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
, a division of the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
. It also includes a satellite federal prison camp (FPC) for minimum-security male offenders.
USP Leavenworth is located in
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...
, which is northwest of
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...
.
Background
USP Leavenworth, a civilian facility, is the oldest of three major prisons built on federal land in Leavenworth County, Kansas. It is separate from, but often confused with, the
United States Disciplinary Barracks
The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) colloquially known as Leavenworth, is a military correctional facility located on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army post in Kansas.
It is one of three major prisons built on Fort Leavenwo ...
(USDB), a military facility located on the adjacent
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...
army post. Located north of the USP, the USDB is the sole maximum-security penal facility for the entire
United States Military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
.
Prisoners from the original USDB were used to build the civilian penitentiary. In addition, the military's medium-security
Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility
The Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility (J.R.C.F.) is a military prison at 831 Sabalu Road, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas which opened in 2010.
The prison on has a design specification of 512 beds with 43 in special housing and the rest in ...
(JRCF), located southwest of the new USDB, opened in 2010. The USDB and JRCF operate independently from USP Leavenworth.
The prison was described by
Pete Earley
Pete Earley (born September 5, 1951) is an American journalist and author who has written non-fiction books and novels.
Career
Born in Douglas, Arizona, Earley became a ''Washington Post'' reporter and also wrote books about the Aldrich Ames ...
, the only writer at that time who had ever been granted unlimited access to the prison, in his book, ''The Hot House''. The prison's history has also been covered in a pictorial history titled ''U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth'' by Kenneth M. LaMaster, the retired Institution Historian.
USP Leavenworth was the largest
maximum-security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005 when it was downgraded to a medium-security facility.
Design
USP Leavenworth was one of three first-generation federal prisons which were built in 1913. Prior to its construction, federal prisoners were held at state prisons. In 1895, Congress authorized the construction of the federal prison system.
The other two were
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
and
McNeil Island
McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of , it lies just north of Anderson Island; Fox Island is to the north, across Carr Inlet, and to the ...
(although McNeil dates to the 1870s the major expansion did not occur until the early 1900s).
The prison follows a format popularized at the
Auburn Correctional Facility
Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison on State Street in Auburn, New York, United States. It was built on land that was once a Cayuga village. It is classified as a maximum security facility.
History
Constructed in 1816 as Auburn Pri ...
in New York where the cell blocks were in a large rectangular building. The rectangular building was focused on indoor group labor with a staff continually patrolling.
The Auburn system was a marked difference from the earlier Pennsylvania plan popularized at
Eastern State Penitentiary
The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from ...
in which cell blocks radiated out from a central building and was the original design for the nearby Disciplinary Barracks before it was torn down and replaced by a totally new prison.
The
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
architecture firm of
Eames and Young
Eames and Young was an American architecture firm based in St. Louis, Missouri, active nationally, and responsible for several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.
History
The principals were Thomas Crane Young, FAIA and Will ...
designed both Leavenworth and the
United States Penitentiary, Atlanta
The United States Penitentiary, Atlanta (USP Atlanta) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice ...
. Leavenworth's prison cells are back to back in the middle of the structure facing the walls. The prison's walls are high, below the surface and long and enclose . Its domed main building was nicknamed the "Big Top" or "Big House." The domed Disciplinary Barracks two miles (3 km) to the north was nicknamed the "Little Top" until it was torn down in 2004 and replaced with a newer structure.
Historical timeline
* 1827: Colonel
Henry Leavenworth
Henry Leavenworth (December 10, 1783 – July 21, 1834) was an American soldier active in the War of 1812 and early military expeditions against the Plains Indians. He established Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and named after him is the city of L ...
chose site for new fort.
* 1875: Fort chosen as the site for a military prison. Within a year, Fort Leavenworth housed more than 300 prisoners in a remodeled, supply-depot building.
* 1894: Secretary of War conceded to the House Appropriations Committee that War Department could do without the military prison.
* 1895 July 1: Congress transferred the military prison from the War Department to the
US Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
. The Department of Justice took over the plant and inaugurated the United States Penitentiary. Commandant of the military prison, James V. Pope. Warden of the USP, James W. French.
* 1896: House Judiciary Committee recommended that the facility be replaced.
* 1896 June 10: the Congress authorized a new federal penitentiary.
* 1897 March: Warden French marched prisoners every morning two and one-half miles (4 km) from Ft. Leavenworth to the new site of the federal penitentiary. Work went on for two and one-half decades.
* 1899 July 1: Robert W. McClaughry was appointed Leavenworth's second Warden.
* 1901 November 10: Joseph Waldrupe was the first correctional officer to be killed (records dating back to 1901) in the line of duty at Leavenworth.
* 1903: Enough space was under roof to permit the first 418 prisoners to move into the new federal penitentiary.
* 1904: First Cell house completed
* 1906 February 1: All prisoners had been transferred to the new facility, and the War Department appreciatively accepted the return of its prison.
* 1910 April 21: During construction, six prisoners escape by smashing through prison gates with a hijacked railroad locomotive but only one, Frank Grigware, eludes recapture.
* 1910 May: The Attorney General approved construction of a separate cellblock for females on the penitentiary grounds—this plan was later abandoned.
* 1913 June: T. W. Morgan, editor of a newspaper in the small Kansas town of Ottawa, was appointed Leavenworth's 3rd Warden.
* 1919: Construction of the cellblocks completed.
* 1926: Construction of the shoe shops completed.
* 1928: Construction of the brush and broom factory completed.
* 1929: Construction of the barber shop and first intraprison murder.
* 1930: In May, the
Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
became a federal agency within the Department of Justice.
* 1930: On September 5,
Carl Panzram
Charles "Carl" Panzram (June 28, 1891 – September 5, 1930) was an American serial killer, spree killer, mass murderer, rap ist, child molester, arsonist, robber, thief, and burglar. In prison confessions and in his autobiography, Panzr ...
becomes the first to be executed (records dating back to 1927) by hanging at Leavenworth.
* 1934: On December 11, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the first
federal prison
A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...
industries as a public corporation.
* 1938: On August 12, Robert Suhay and Glenn Applegate become the first double execution (records dating back to 1927) by
hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
at Leavenworth.
* 1944 to 1947: Japanese American
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
s are held at Leavenworth after refusing military service in protest of the
wartime incarceration of themselves and their families.
* 1980s and 1990s: The institution undergoes major renovations to three of its four cellhouses: A, B, and C. D-Cellhouse today remains the only cellblock true to its original design.
* 2005: Federal Bureau of Prisons changes USP Leavenworth's mission. The BOP decided to change the custody level of USP Leavenworth from High / Maximum to Medium while retaining the USP designation for historical reasons.
* 2011: The Federal Bureau of Prisons takes comments on a proposed new 1,500 medium security and 300 minimum security facility on the current prison grounds on 144 acres to the west of the current prison and a 238-acre area to the east.
* 2021: On December 15, USP Leavenworth began moving Inmates from the CCA facility in Leavenworth into housing units inside the walls. This would take a total for 5 days to complete. Pre-trial inmates replaced general population inmates in 3 of the housing units. USP- Leavenworth now houses Pre-trial inmates of all custody levels. USP-Leavenworth houses General Population Medium custody inmates & pre-trial (all custody) inside the main facility, with a Camp (minimum custody) inmate adjacent to the main facility.
Notable inmates (current and former)
Famous escapees
Frank Grigware, imprisoned for train robbery, escaped from Leavenworth in 1910 with five other men by smashing through the prison gates with a hijacked supply locomotive. While the others were quickly recaptured, Grigware escaped to Canada. In 1916 he became the mayor of
Spirit River, Alberta
Spirit River is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is approximately north of Grande Prairie at the junction of Highway 49 and Highway 731.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Spiri ...
. He was discovered by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
and the FBI in 1933, but serious doubts about his original conviction led the U.S. to drop its extradition request in 1934. Grigware never returned to the U.S. and died in Alberta in 1977.
Basil Banghart
Basil Hugh "The Owl" Banghart Jr. (September 11, 1901– April 5 1982) was an American criminal, burglar, and prison escape artist. Although a successful "stickup artist" during the 1920s and early 1930s, he is best remembered for his involvement ...
escaped from Leavenworth three times. He escaped federal custody a fourth time while awaiting return to Leavenworth.
On December 11, 1931, seven inmates took Warden Thomas B. White hostage and escaped, aided by the well-known gangsters
Frank Nash
Frank Nash (February 6, 1887 – June 17, 1933) was an American bank robber, and has been called "the most successful bank robber in U.S. history." He is most noted for his violent death in the Kansas City Massacre. Nash spent part of his child ...
,
George "Machine Gun" Kelly Machine Gun Kelly most often refers to:
* Machine Gun Kelly (gangster) (1900–1954), American gangster.
* Machine Gun Kelly (musician) (born 1990), American rapper.
Machine Gun Kelly may also refer to:
* ''Machine-Gun Kelly'' (film), 1958 film a ...
, and
Thomas James Holden
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
.
Executions
On September 5, 1930, serial killer
Carl Panzram
Charles "Carl" Panzram (June 28, 1891 – September 5, 1930) was an American serial killer, spree killer, mass murderer, rap ist, child molester, arsonist, robber, thief, and burglar. In prison confessions and in his autobiography, Panzr ...
, under a federal death sentence for murder, was hanged at USP Leavenworth. On August 12, 1938, two men under the sentence of death for murder, Robert Suhay and Glenn Applegate, were hanged at USP Leavenworth.
Cemetery
The penitentiary maintains a cemetery for deceased prisoners outside the walls of the prison.
See also
*
List of U.S. federal prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories:
* United States penitentiaries
* Federal correctional institutions
* Private correctional institutions
* Federal prison camps
* Administrative facilities
* Federal correctio ...
*
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
*
Incarceration in the United States
Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*LaMaster, Kenneth M. (2019) Leavenworth Seven: The Deadly 1931 Prison Break Publisher Arcadia Publishing
External links
USP Leavenworth-
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
* http://www.lvcountyed.org/
* Additional listing at
{{Federal Bureau of Prisons
Buildings and structures in Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth
Leavenworth
1903 establishments in Kansas