![]() Pre-2020 prison [1] from southwest | |
![]() | |
Location | Lansing, Kansas |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°15′04″N94°53′37″W / 39.2511°N 94.8936°W |
Status | Open |
Security class | Maximum, Medium, Minimum |
Capacity | 2,489 |
Opened | July, 1868 |
Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) is a state prison operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections. LCF is located in Lansing, Kansas, in Leavenworth County. LCF, along with the Federal Bureau of Prison's United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, the United States Army Corrections Command's United States Disciplinary Barracks, and Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility in Fort Leavenworth are the four major prisons that give the Leavenworth area its reputation as a corrections center.
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. The facility began housing Kansas inmates felons in July 1868 and housed felons from Oklahoma from 1889 to 1909.
The prison stopped admitting prisoners temporarily in the spring of 1896 and January 1900 as a result of the spread of smallpox in Kansas.
A New Cemetery for the Kansas Penitentiary at Lansing
Leavenworth, Dec. 6,1899
Warden Tomlinson of the Kansas penitentiary has a force of prisoners moving the "convict graveyard." This graveyard is close to the northeast corner of the main prison wall, and within a stone's throw of the women's department. It became necessary to use the ground and part of the clay in the graveyard for the new penitentiary brick plant. The work of moving the bodies has been in progress several days, and if the weather continues pleasant, it will be completed during the week. In all, 130 bodies of convicts were buried in the Kansas penitentiary graveyard. Everybody except one is that of a convict. The exception is that of a stranger who died near the prison walls where he was trying to seek shelter from the cold two years ago. The new graveyard is on a ridge a quarter of a mile southeast of the prison walls, and is a beautiful place overlooking the surrounding country.(Kansas City Star ~ December 6, 1899)[ citation needed ]
Previously the prison's "East Unit" had women inmates, but at a later point Topeka Correctional Facility took the women inmates instead. [2]
The current main facility opened in 2020, and the Lansing Historical Society and Museum took possession of the old main facility in 2024. [1]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the facility was unable to control spread of the virus. On April 9, inmates began to riot citing the lack of health care. Reports indicated the inmates were armed with edged weapons. Video of the unrest reached the national media. By April 29, two prisoners had died of the disease. [3] In late April, large-scale testing began indicating over three-quarters of the inmates were infected. The Department of Corrections asked the governor to release prisoners near the end of their sentences in order provide some level of social distancing. Governor of Kansas Laura Kelly took no action. [4]
LCF consists of two units with different levels of security. The Central Unit includes an 11-acre (45,000 m2) maximum security facility and a 46-acre (190,000 m2) medium security facility. The East Unit includes an 85-acre (340,000 m2) minimum security facility.
Lansing Correctional Facility East A detailed description
Known locally as "The Hill" due to its location on top of the higher terrain east of Lansing Correctional Facility main compound. It comprises 10 structures. The dorms or units "R", "S", "T", "W", and "X". The designation of "S dorm" and "X Unit" are used to reduce confusion in radio traffic. Each inmate is required to wear a color-coded ID card at all times; staff can quickly identify in which dorm an inmate lives by the ID color.
DORMS: "S" & "W" Each share the same basic layout of 2 floors, 96 inmates housed in a dormitory setting of 48 per floor. Each Floor separated by a Dayroom and shower area. Each side houses 24 inmates in 6 cubicles of 4 inmates each. Inmates have access to T.V. at their bunks if they can purchase one from the canteen/property or in the Dayroom. All entertainment devices require use of personal sound equipment (headphones) This is only available to Level 2 and 3 inmates. "W" currently houses the "Brothers in Blue" program formally known as "IFI". "S" Is general population and has no special housing designation. "S" basement contains the compounds "Work Recall Center" where inmate workers who leave the compound for facility work crews or private industries are screened for contraband prior to leaving or reentering the facility. "W" basement houses the compound library that is handicapped accessible. This is also the location of the East Unit Minimum Maintenance Crew Office and Shop.
"R" & "T" Dorms. These are not laid out like the others and they are specially modified to accommodate services. "R" dorm second floor is pretty much standard with the exception of having individual shower stalls. "R" dorm first floor Houses inmates and a secured door separates them from the "Visitation Reception" area. This is where all non-disabled visitors are screened prior to entering the compound. During the week on Tuesday and Thursday Evening this area is used by the Staff an inmate workers to distribute property purchased by inmates or large mail not receivable by the normal mail system. "R" Basement houses the Crew 11 office and Bike Shop.
"R" & "T" also house mainly "private industry" or hourly workers. Hourly workers include KCI (Kansas Correctional Industries), Aramark Food Service, and a select few Facility maintenance jobs. Private industry inmates from East Unit include Impact Design LLC Warehouse, Heatron, Zephyr, and Laser Apparel. These PI jobs pay minimum wage and more and allow the inmate to pay fines and child support while serving his sentence. "T" also is where the Unit Team Managers office, Resource Center, and GED classroom are located. In the event that an inmate should lose his job he is moved out of these dorms to make room for other workers. "T" dorm because of its location is the only dorm to have air conditioning.
"X" Unit comprises 4 pods housing 64 inmates each. Pod 1 is known as the "dog run," as this is where the dog resocialization program is housed. This is also the pod that houses disabled inmates and their inmate aides.
Other Structures: Barber Shop and Sheet Exchange. Very much self-explanatory.
Admin building- houses administrative staff and classrooms for programs and reentry. Basement houses the East Clinic/Sick Call and the upper floors are offices and East hill Chapel. The admin building and Chow hall are physically connected, although clearly of different construction. In between is the inmate canteen, a small dining hall (mainly used as a classroom) and the main chow hall and kitchen facility. "T" dorm being located in the basement of the Chow Hall.
Phillips hall is the compound gym and visit center. A multi-use area that has a basketball court, concession area for visit and available to inmates during the week (Castle Cuisine). This also has a stage that is utilized for programs and entertainment from time to time. Out in front is the "outside visit area". This area has picnic tables and a small play structure for kids to play on during visitation.
Next to Phillips hall is the Annex Building that houses the "BIB" computer lab. Behind those is the compound Laundry that opened in 2012.
The final Structure is the East Control Center. This houses the central control and security staff offices (Captain, Lt, Etc.). In the "basement" of the control building accessible only via the outside is the Dilution room where all cleaning supplies to the porters are issued and the Recreational yard equipment room.
INMATE JOBS: There are too many individual inmate jobs to list. The general list is as follows with some examples: Utility work crews: mowing and clean up crews KCI: Farm, Warehouse, Finishing, Etc. Maintenance crews: Plumbing, Electrical, Construction, Concrete Vehicle maintenance and Heavy Equipment. Paint storage and Small Appliance Repair Communications (Cable, phone, security system repair and installations) Steam plant and Fire and Safety.
Inmates at East unit populate the Work crews of the Richard Christy Memorials Maintenance Complex located in the valley between the compounds. These crews perform maintenance in all areas of all 3 security areas and must meet security requirements before being allowed on these crews. This houses the majority of the maintenance and construction crew shops and storage areas. Also in this valley are KCI farm main farm area, K9 kennels for security, staff gym and the gun range.
East Unit has a yard with weight pit and track and a multi use field for sports. There are two basketball courts and a horseshoe pit as well. These units have since been closed down due to the opening of the newly built minimum facility as well as a newly built Maximum and Medium housing units built where the old medium once was.
Executions of state, federal, and military prisoners were performed by hanging at KSP until 1965. [5] When the death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, it was determined that executions would be performed at LCF by lethal injection. [6] No executions have been conducted since it was reinstated, although a lethal injection chamber was constructed in 2001.
Additionally, one male death row inmate is held at Lansing instead of at El Dorado Correctional Facility because multiple employees at El Dorado are/were associates of the inmate's murder victim. [7]
The InnerChange Freedom Initiative is offered at LCF. [8] Since PrisonFellowship has withdrawn funding, the program has continued on under the name Brothers in Blue.
The Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) is a cabinet-level agency of Kansas that operates the state's correctional facilities, both juvenile and adult, the state's parole system, and the state's Prisoner Review Board. It is headquartered in Topeka.
The Colorado Department of Corrections is the principal department of the Colorado state government that operates the state prisons. It has its headquarters in the Springs Office Park in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorado Springs. The Colorado Department of Corrections runs 20 state-run prisons and also has been affiliated with 7 for-profit prisons in Colorado, of which the state currently contracts with 3 for-profit prisons.
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 two major prisons built on Fort Leavenworth property, the other is the military Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, which opened on 5 October 2010. Together the facilities make up the Military Corrections Complex which is under the command of its commandant, who holds the rank of colonel, and serves as both the Army Corrections Brigade Commander and Deputy commander of The United States Army Corrections Command.
The Federal Correctional Institution, Leavenworth is a medium-security federal prison for male inmates in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. It also includes a satellite federal prison camp (FPC) for minimum-security male offenders.
The Long Bay Correctional Complex, commonly called Long Bay, is a correctional facility comprising a heritage-listed maximum and minimum security prison for males and females and a hospital to treat prisoners, psychiatric cases and remandees, located in Malabar, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The complex is located approximately 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of the Sydney CBD and is contained within a 32-hectare (79-acre) site. The facility is operated by Corrective Services New South Wales, a department administered by the Government of New South Wales.
Saskatchewan Penitentiary is a Medium Security Facility with Maximum Security areas. It is located on a walled 20-acre parcel of land in the Rural Municipality of Prince Albert No. 461, one kilometre west of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. It opened in 1911 built on the site of a former residential school run by the Anglican Church of Canada.
A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries.
The Federal Correctional Institution, Thomson, formerly United States Penitentiary, Thomson and Thomson Correctional Center, is a low-security federal prison located in Thomson, Illinois. It has an area of about 146 acres (59 ha) and comprises 15 buildings. The facility is enclosed by a 15-foot (4.6 m), 7000 volt electric fence surrounded by an additional 12-foot (3.7 m) exterior fence covered with razor wire. Thomson has eight cellhouses with a rated capacity of 2,100 beds—1,900 high-security SMU beds and 200 minimum-security beds at the onsite camp—and according to BOP officials, the potential to use some of its high-security rated capacity to house up to 400 ADX inmates. From its completion in 2001 to 2006, it remained empty. By 2009, only the minimum-security section housed prisoners.
The El Dorado Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison located east of the city of El Dorado in rural Prospect Township, Butler County, Kansas, United States.
The New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state men's prison in Trenton, New Jersey operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. It is the oldest prison in New Jersey and one of the oldest correctional facilities in the United States. It is the state's only completely maximum security institution, housing the most difficult and/or dangerous male offenders in the inmate population. NJSP operates two security units and provides a high level of custodial supervision and control. Professional treatment services, such as education and social work, are a priority at the facility. The Bureau of State Use Industries operated the bedding and clothing shops that were once located in Shop Hall at the facility. These industries have been relocated to South Woods State Prison.
Thomas Edward Silverstein was an American criminal who spent the last 42 years of his life in prison after being convicted of four separate murders while imprisoned for armed robbery, one of which was overturned. Silverstein spent the last 36 years of his life in solitary confinement for killing corrections officer Merle Clutts at the Marion Penitentiary in Illinois. Prison authorities described him as a brutal killer and a former leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Silverstein maintained that the dehumanizing conditions inside the prison system contributed to the three murders he committed. He was the longest-held prisoner in solitary confinement within the Bureau of Prisons at the time of his death. Correctional officers refused to talk to Silverstein out of respect for Clutts.
Menard Correctional Center, known prior to 1970 as Southern Illinois Penitentiary, is an Illinois state prison located in the town of Chester in Randolph County, Illinois. It houses maximum-security and high-medium-security adult males. The average daily population as of 2007 was 3,410.
The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on 1,556 acres (6.30 km2). Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male offenders, the vast majority of which are maximum-security inmates. They also hold many death row prisoners.
The Monroe Correctional Complex is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Monroe, Washington, United States. With a bed capacity of over 3,100, it is the largest prison in the state.
The Kentucky State Penitentiary (KSP), also known as the "Castle on the Cumberland", is a maximum security and supermax prison with capacity for 856 prisoners located in Eddyville, Kentucky on Lake Barkley on the Cumberland River, about 4.8 kilometres (3 mi) from downtown Eddyville. It is managed by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. Completed in 1886, it is Kentucky's oldest prison facility and the only commonwealth-owned facility with supermax units. The penitentiary houses Kentucky's male death row inmates and the commonwealth's execution facility. As of 2015, it had approximately 350 staff members and an annual operating budget of $20 million. In most cases, inmates are not sent directly to the penitentiary after sentencing but are sent there because of violent or disruptive behavior committed in other less secure correctional facilities in the commonwealth. This was Kentucky's second penitentiary: the first was made uninhabitable by a flood in 1937.
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is an agency of the state of Oklahoma. DOC is responsible for the administration of the state prison system. It has its headquarters in Oklahoma City, across the street from the headquarters of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. The Board of Corrections are appointees: five members are appointed by the Governor; two members are appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and two members are appointed by the Speaker of the house of Representatives. The board is responsible for setting the policies of the Department, approving the annual budget request, and working with the Director of Corrections on material matters of the agency. T. Hastings Siegfried is the current chairman of the board. The director, who serves at the pleasure of the governor, is the chief executive of the department. The current director of Corrections is Steven Harpe, who was appointed in October 2022.
The Missouri State Penitentiary was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri, that operated from 1836 to 2004. Part of the Missouri Department of Corrections, it served as the state of Missouri's primary maximum security institution. Before it closed, it was the oldest operating penal facility west of the Mississippi River. It was replaced by the Jefferson City Correctional Center, which opened on September 15, 2004. The penitentiary is now a tourist attraction, and guided tours are offered.
The Tucker Unit is a prison in Dudley Lake Township, unincorporated Jefferson County, Arkansas, 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Pine Bluff. It is operated by the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC). Tucker is one of the state of Arkansas's "parent units" for male prisoners; it serves as one of several units of initial assignment for processed male prisoners. It is in proximity to, but not within, the Tucker census-designated place.
Capital punishment is currently a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Kansas, although it has not been used since 1965.
The Leavenworth Detention Center was a privately run maximum-security federal prison located in Leavenworth, Kansas. The facility was owned and operated by CoreCivic formerly named Corrections Corporation of America under contract with the United States Marshals Service.
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70765/pg70765-images.html#Page_155