| Location | Fort Leavenworth, Kansas |
|---|---|
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | minimum-maximum security, Supermax |
| Capacity | 515 |
| Population | 440 |
| Opened | 1874, Rebuilt in 2002 |
| Managed by | United States Army Corrections Command |
| Director | Colonel James Gray |
The United States Disciplinary Barracks (or USDB, popularly known as Leavenworth, or the DB) is a military prison located on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army post in Kansas.
It is one of three major federal prisons built on Fort Leavenworth property. The civilian United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth is four miles (6 km) south. A third prison the military's Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility was opened 5 October 2010.[1]
It reports to the United States Army Corrections Command. Its commandant usually holds the rank of Colonel.
The USDB is the U.S. military's only maximum-security facility and houses male service members convicted at court-martial for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Only enlisted prisoners with sentences over five years, commissioned officers, and prisoners convicted of offenses related to national security are confined to the USDB. Enlisted prisoners with sentences under five years are housed in smaller facilities, such as the nearby Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility or the Marine Corps Brig at Quantico, Virginia.
Corrections personnel at the prison are Army "corrections specialists" trained at the U.S. Army Military Police school located at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as well as Marine and Air Force corrections personnel.
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Originally known as the United States Military Prison, the USDB was established by Act of Congress in 1874. Prisoners were used for the majority of construction, which began in 1875 and was completed in 1921. The facility was able to house up to 1,500 prisoners. From 1895 until 1903, prisoners from the USDB were used to construct the nearby United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth[2] until around 400 federal prisoners were moved there to complete the work.
Although work on the two prisons continued at about the same time and they share the same design of a central dome-topped building, the two prisons reflect dramatically different prison concepts.
The original USDB followed the Pennsylvania plan modeling on a layout of the Eastern State Penitentiary where cell blocks radiated out from a central structure. Individual cells were relatively isolated. In contrast, the civilian prison is modeled on the Auburn Correctional Facility in New York reflected a newer concept where prisoners were housed in a large rectangular building where there was a certain amount of communal living.[3]
The original USDB was Fort Leavenworth's biggest and tallest building sitting on top of a hill at the corner of McPherson Avenue and Scott Avenue overlooking the Missouri River. The largest buildings of the original barracks ("The Castle") were torn down in 2004. The old domed building was nicknamed "Little Top" in contrast to the domed federal prison two miles (3 km) north which was nicknamed the "Big Top.".[4] The walls and 10 of the buildings in the original location remain—including Pope Hall—have been converted or are in the process of being converted to other uses at the Fort. The prison's original commandant's house still remains.[5]
The original prison was 12 acres (49,000 m2). Its walls were 16 to 41 feet (12 m) high.[6]
Gail Dillon of the Airman magazine said in 2002 that "A visitor would immediately notice the medieval ambiance of this institution – the well-worn native stone and brick walls constructed by long-forgotten inmates when "hard labor" meant exactly that have witnessed thousands of inmates' prayers, curses and pleas over the past 128 years" and that entering the facility was "like stepping back in time or suddenly being part of a kitschy movie set about a prison bust."[7]
A new state-of-the-art, 515-bed, USDB became operational in September 2002, replacing the old stone wall and brick castle.
The new barracks opened at a cost of $67.8 million and is about a mile north of the original barracks. It is on 51 acres (210,000 m2) on the site of the former USDB Farm Colony and is enclosed by two separate 14-foot (4.3 m) high fences. There are three housing units each of which can accommodate up to 142. The units described as "pods" are two-tiered triangular shaped domiciles.[8] The cells in the new facility have solid doors and a window. There are no bars. The new facility is said to be much quieter than the old one and is preferred by inmates.[9] Colonel Colleen L. McGuire, the first female commandant of the USDB, said in 2002 that the new facility is "much more efficient in design and layout – much brighter and lighter."[10]
The new prison reflects current prison design of smaller low-rise separate buildings where prisoners can be more easily isolated from the general population.[3] The USDB has continuously been accredited from the American Correctional Association (ACA) since 1988.
In 2009, the Barracks along with the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility in Michigan are being considered for relocation of 220 prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Kansas officials including both U.S. Senators have objected to the transfer with Pat Roberts saying the transfer would require the that 2,000 privately-owned acres around the fort would need to be acquired by the use of eminent domain to establish a stand-off zone because the prison is on the perimeter of the fort.[11]
Deceased prisoners who are not claimed by their family members are buried near the original USDB. There were 300 graves dating from between approximately 1894 and 1957, 56 of which are unmarked and 14 more that belong to German prisoners of war executed for the murder of fellow POWs. The German soldiers were executed over a two day period in 1945.[12]
The USDB houses the U.S. military's male death row inmates. Since 1945, there have been 21 executions at the USDB, including fourteen German prisoners of war executed in 1945 for murder.[13] The last execution by the U.S. Military was the hanging of Army PFC John A. Bennett, on April 13, 1961, for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl.[14] Bennett's execution took place four years after it was approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. All executions at the USDB thus far have been by hanging, but lethal injection has been specified as the military's current mode of execution. As of June 2011[update], there are six inmates on death row at the USDB, the most recent addition being Andrew P. Witt, the only Air Force member currently on the USDB death row.[15]
The execution of Army Pvt. Ronald A. Gray, who has been on military death row since 1988, was approved by President George W. Bush on July 28, 2008. Gray was convicted of the rape, two murders and an attempted murder of three women, two of them Army soldiers and the third a civilian taxi driver whose body was found on the post at Fort Bragg.[16] On 26 November 2008, a federal judge granted Gray a stay of execution to allow time for further appeals.[17]
The death row is located in an isolated corridor.[18]
Death row
Non-death row