Lansing Correctional Facility
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| Lansing Correctional Facility | |
|---|---|
| Location: | Lansing, Kansas |
| Status: | Open |
| Security class: | Maximum, Medium, Minimum |
| Capacity: | 2489 |
| Opened: | July, 1868 |
Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) is a state prison operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections located in Lansing, Kansas in Leavenworth County. LCF, along with the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth and the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, are the three major prisons that give the Leavenworth area its reputation as a corrections center.
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[edit] History
The facility was originally known as the Kansas State Penitentiary (KSP) and was built by prison labor in the 1860s. The name was changed to Lansing Correctional Facility in 1990. Construction of the cell houses was completed in 1867 and the doors opened in July of 1868. At this point, and up until 1909, the prison housed felons from [[Oklahoma from 1889-1909] as well as the state of Kansas.
The prison stopped admitting prisoners temporarily in the spring of 1896 as a result of the spread of smallpox in Kansas.
David R. McKune has been the warden at the facility since 1991.[1] [2]
[edit] Facilities
LCF consists of two units separated by level of security. The Central Unit includes an 11 acre maximum security facility and a 46 acre medium security facility. The East Unit includes an 85 acre minimum security facility. LCF is also administratively connected to the Osawatomie Correctional Facility that provides minimum security and is located within the Osawatomie State Hospital.
[edit] Capital Punishment
Executions were performed by hanging at KSP until 1965.[2] When the death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, it was determined that executions for adult males would be performed at LCF by lethal injection. [3]
[edit] Notable Prisoners
Two of the most notorious inmates hanged at KSP were Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who were convicted for the 1959 murder of four members of the Clutter family and hanged in 1965. The story of the Clutter murders and the execution of Hickock and Smith drew national attention as a result of Truman Capote's novel, In Cold Blood.
Another notorious inmate was Rev. Tom Bird, who was convicted in 1985 of killing his wife, Sandy, a case that was made into the CBS movie Murder Ordained.
[edit] Notes
- ^ State of Kansas. Lansing Correctional Facility Overview. Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
- ^ a b State of Kansas. Lansing Correctional Facility History. Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
- ^ Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Kansas Law. Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
