Leavenworth Detention Center

Federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, US

Leavenworth Detention Facility

Location| Leavenworth, Kansas, US
Coordinates| 39°16′21″N 94°53′32″W﻿ / ﻿39.2725°N 94.8923°W﻿ / 39.2725; -94.8923
Status| inactive
Security class| Maximum
Capacity| 1,126
Opened| May 1992
Closed| late 2021

The Leavenworth Detention Center was a privately run maximum-security federal prison located in Leavenworth, Kansas. The facility is owned and was operated by CoreCivic formerly named Corrections Corporation of America under contract with the United States Marshals Service.[1]

## History

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When originally constructed as a 460-bed private prison, it was the first correctional facility under direct contract with a U.S. federal agency.[2] In May 2008 the facility underwent its fourth expansion to increase capacity to 1,126 inmates.[3] It held both male and female prisoners.[4]

A 2017 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General's report found understaffing and lack of oversight that lead to “issues affecting the safety and security” of the facility.

In January 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14006, which prevented federal agencies from renewing contracts with privately run prisons.[5]

In September 2021, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) affiliates and federal public defender offices in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska sent a joint letter to the White House Domestic Policy Counsel to immediately close the Core Civic Detention Facility in Leavenworth,[6] detailing the numerous reports each office had received about the Leavenworth facility from current and former staff and from residents and their families. CoreCivic's severe understaffing and profit-driven shortcuts ensured that stabbings, suicides, and homicides occurred with alarming frequency. Weapons, drugs, and other contraband were a common occurrence. In addition to all of the violence, CoreCivic neglected basic human needs in its Leavenworth Facility, restricting food, curtailing or cutting off contact with legal counsel and family, limiting medical care and even basic necessities like showers.[7]

The facility's contract was allowed to expire on schedule in December 2021 without renewal.[8] The facility has remained inactive.[9]

In 2024, records produced in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the ACLU against Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to a request for proposal from ICE revealed that the Leavenworth facility, or Midwest Regional Reception Center, was among the CoreCivic facilities submitted for consideration of a contract.[10][11][12]

In February 2025, CoreCivic submitted an application to the City of Leavenworth for a special use permit as required by city ordinance, an explicit statement of its purpose of opening the facility for ICE detentions, and followed up by hosting a private event listed as "an informational luncheon" with “a small number of leaders from the city, county and state level as well as multiple tours of the facility describing their intentions for the space as an ICE detention center.[13][14][15] The proposal received opposition from the ACLU of Kansas, Advocates for Immigrants Rights and Reconciliation, former employees, and local residents[16][17] Weeks later in mid-March, CoreCivic withdrew its application for the permit.[18][19][20] The city then filed suit over CoreCivic's plan to reopen the facility without going through a permitting process.[21]In March a judge issued a temporary restraining order against CoreCivic opening the facility without a permit from the city.[22]

## Other area facilities

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The Leavenworth Detention Center was one of five state, federal and military prisons in the Leavenworth / Lansing area. The other four are:

* Lansing Correctional Facility, operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections
* United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP) and its satellite prison camp, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons
* United States Disciplinary Barracks, the U.S. military's only maximum-security facility
* Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, another U.S. military facility

## Notes

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1. ^ "CoreCivic: Better the Public Good".
2. ^ Leavenworth Convention and Visitor's Bureau (August 7, 2024). "Prison city".
3. ^ City of Lansing. "our Partners". Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
4. ^ "CoreCivic: Better the Public Good".
5. ^ "Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities". January 26, 2021.
6. ^ "White House Domestic Policy Counsel Office, Leavenworth Cou. Commission re: Corecivic Leavenworth".
7. ^ "ACLU continues push to close private Leavenworth prison". October 18, 2021.
8. ^ Tolan, Casey (November 12, 2021). "Biden vowed to close federal private prisons, but prison companies are finding loopholes to keep them open". CNN Politics. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
9. ^ "Leavenworth Detention Center". Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
10. ^ "ACLU FOIA Litigation Reveals ICE Actively Considering Proposals to Expand Immigration Detention in Kansas" (Press release). ACLU of Kansas. December 19, 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
11. ^ "Multi-State Detention Facility Support FOIA Documents - Request for Information". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
12. ^ Kite, Allison (December 19, 2024). "Shuttered private jail in Kansas could become immigration detention center". Kansas Reflector. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
13. ^ "Residents, advocates react to CoreCivic submitting application to city of Leavenworth for ICE detention center". KSHB 41 Kansas City News. February 24, 2025. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
14. ^ "Letter to city director of planning | PDF". City of Leavenworth. Retrieved March 18, 2025 – via Scribd.
15. ^ "Press Release on CoreCivic Special Use Permit Application" (Press release). Leavenworth, Kansas. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
16. ^ "In city already filled with detention centers, potential ICE facility worries Leavenworth residents". KSHB 41 Kansas City News. February 5, 2025. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
17. ^ Webster, Betsy; Brennan, Nathan (February 26, 2025). "A look inside potential ICE detention in Leavenworth". KCTV5. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
18. ^ "CoreCivic withdrawing application for ICE detention center in Leavenworth". KSHB 41 Kansas City News. March 14, 2025. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
19. ^ Dailey, Greg (March 14, 2025). "CoreCivic withdraws application to open as ICE facility in Leavenworth". KCTV5. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
20. ^ Sloan, Nick (March 17, 2025). "CoreCivic withdraws permit application for ICE detention center in Leavenworth". KMBC. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
21. ^ Chilson, Morgan (May 16, 2025). "Leavenworth sues to keep CoreCivic from reopening Kansas prison as ICE detention facility". KAKE. Kansas Reflector.
22. ^ Hollingsworth, Heather (June 4, 2025). "Judge blocks private prison operator from housing ICE detainees at shuttered Kansas center". AP News. Retrieved June 5, 2025.