The United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth was the largest maximum security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005.[1] It became a medium security prison in 2005.
It is located in Leavenworth, Kansas. It is an all-male, medium-security facility committed to carrying out the judgments of the Federal Courts.
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The civilian USP Leavenworth is the oldest of three major prisons built on the grounds of Fort Leavenworth. The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) is four miles (6 km) north and is the sole maximum-security penal facility of the United States Military. The original USDB opened in 1874 with the current facility opening in 2002. Prisoners from the original USDB were used to build the civilian prison. In addition, the military's medium security Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, located southwest of the new USDB, opened in 2010. The three prisons operate independently of each other.
In September 2009, the prison population consisted of 1,899 inmates in the main building and 407 in the adjoining minimum security camp.[2]
The prison was extensively described by Pete Earley, 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 extensively in the pictorial history titled "U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth" by Kenneth M. LaMaster. Mr. LaMaster is the retired Institution Historian.
Leavenworth is one of three first generation United States Penitentiaries built in the early 1900s. Prior to its construction federal prisoners were held at state prisons. In 1895 Congress authorized the construction of the federal prison system.[3]
The other two were Atlanta and McNeil Island (although McNeil dates to the 1870s the major expansion did not occur until the early 1900s).[4]
The prison follows a format popularized at the Auburn Correctional Facility 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.[5]
The Auburn system was a marked difference from the earlier Pennsylvania plan popularized at Eastern State Penitentiary 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).[6]
The St. Louis, Missouri architecture firm of Eames and Young designed both Leavenworth and the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta.[7]
Leavenworth's prison cells are back to back in the middle of the structure facing the walls. The prison's walls are 40 feet (12 m) high, 40 feet (12 m) below the surface and 3,030 feet (920 m) long and enclose 22.8 acres (92,000 m2).
Its domed main building was nicknamed the "Big Top" or "Big House."[8] 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.
The large central structure created various maintenance problems. It was nicknamed the "Hot House" because of its poor ventilation even when air conditioning is running. Extensive research by Prison Historian and author Kenneth M. LaMaster has shown that the institution has never been referred to as the "Hot House". Books such as Tom White: The Life of a Lawman and other publications show that the institution has been referred to as "The Big House", "The Big Top", and "The Big L", but never the "Hot House". The latter was popularized after a book of the same title was released by Pete Early in the late 1980s.[8]
The next generation was characterized by the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary built in 1931 which started a move away from a huge central castle like structure. Cell blocks are arranged in a "telephone pole" format extending out from the central building. This eliminated the mixing of prisoners of all types in the same building.[9]
Modern federal prisons such as ADX Florence have gone to smaller buildings spread out over a compound and depend more upon electronic surveillance.[10]
| Name | Number | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel R. Caldwell | First man in America to be arrested for selling marijuana in violation of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 | ||
| Frederick Cook | In 1922, plead guilty to mail fraud and imprisoned until 1930. | Famous explorer whose claims to be the first to reach the summit of Mt. McKinley and the North Pole turned out to be fraudulent. | |
| Jimmy Burke | who was sent to the prison for the first time at the age of eighteen in 1949 and once again in 1972 for extortion | Gangster | |
| James J. Bulger | He was shipped to Leavenworth out of Alcatraz. | Irish-American gangster sent to Leavenworth for hijacking and bank robbing. | |
| Troy Deon Reddick | 87145-011 | Bank robber and rapper known as Da' Unda' Dogg | |
| Phillip Garrido | Sent to Leavenworth for the kidnap of Katherine Callaway, later kidnapped Jaycee Dugard | ||
| Fritz Joubert Duquesne | Nazi spy and leader of the Duquesne Spy Ring, the largest convicted espionage case in United States history. | ||
| Victor Feguer | last federal fugitive executed before Timothy McVeigh | ||
| John "Sonny" Franzese | 70022-158 | A legendary New York gangster and a high ranking member of the Colombo crime family. | |
| Antonio Fernandez | aka King Tone and current Inca of the Latin Kings (gang). | ||
| Gus Hall | former leader of the Communist Party USA, indicted under the Smith Act | ||
| Thomas James Holden | murderer and escapee, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive #1, 1950 | ||
| Michael Nunn | Former IBF Middleweight and the WBA Super Middleweight Boxing Champion | ||
| Orba Elmer Jackson | escapee and post office robber, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive #7, 1950 | ||
| George "Machine Gun" Kelly | Depression era gangster. | ||
| Randy Lanier | 04961-069 | Transferred | 1986 Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year. Guilty of engaging in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise and conspiring to distribute more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana. |
| Felix Mitchell | Stabbed to death in 1986, just months into his prison term | notorious drug kingpin from Oakland, California. | |
| Byron "Bam" Morris | former NFL player, played in Super Bowl XXX | ||
| "Boss" Tom Pendergast | Kansas City politician who handpicked Harry Truman for the U.S. Senate | ||
| Tom Petters | 14170-041 | As of 2010, held in USP, Leavenworth[12] | Former Minnesota CEO convicted in a $3.6 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest fraud case in state history |
| George "Bugs" Moran | Irish gangster who battled Al Capone for the control of Chicago's criminal underworld, who died one month into his sentence from lung cancer and is buried in the institution cemetery | ||
| Richard Case Nagell | the so-called "Man Who Knew Too Much" | ||
| Carl Panzram | serial killer. Executed for the murder of Institution Laundry Foreman Robert G. Warnke | ||
| John Paul, Sr. | 06818-018 | released in 1999[13] | racecar driver, Importing marijuana, tax evasion, possession of false passport and attempted attempted first-degree murder of a federal witness[14][15][16] |
| Leonard Peltier | 89637-132 | As of 1999 serving his time at USP Lewisburg | American Indian Movement leader, convicted of murdering two FBI agents, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive #335, 1975 |
| James Earl Ray | 1955-58[17] | Charged with forging documents - later assassin of Martin Luther King | |
| Leslie Isben Rogge | Bank robber, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive #430, 1990 | ||
| Robert Stroud | became famous as the "Bird Man of Alcatraz" | ||
| Thomas Silverstein | Regarded as one of the prison Bureau's most dangerous prisoners; was held in Leavenworth's basement in a "No Human Contact" Status; transferred to ADX Florence supermax in Florence, Colorado | Murder | |
| Michael Vick | Released in 2009. | NFL quarterback formerly with the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty to operating an unlawful six-year-long interstate dog fighting venture known as "Bad Newz Kennels".[18] | |
| Ricardo Flores Magón | He became equally at odds with US authorities and eventually died in Leavenworth in 1922, probably dying from long-standing health impairments. | Mexican anarcho-syndicalist intellectual who was in the US during the Mexican Revolution. |
Basil Banghart escaped from Leavenworth a total of three times. He escaped federal custody a fourth time while awaiting return to Leavenworth.
On September 5, 1930, Carl Panzram, 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.[19]
Five officers were killed in the line of Duty at Leavenworth.
In addition, two non-officers were killed in the line of duty between 1922 and 1929.
15. U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth By Kenneth M. LaMaster Arcadia Publishing April, 2008