Location | Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S. |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°22′42″N94°56′07″W / 39.37833°N 94.93528°W [1] |
Status | Operational |
Security class | Minimum-maximum security, Level III (Maximum Security) |
Capacity | 515 |
Population | 440 |
Opened | 1874, rebuilt in 2002 |
Managed by | United States Army Corrections Command |
Director | Commandant: Colonel Kevin Payne |
The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), colloquially known as Leavenworth, is a military correctional facility [2] 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 USDB is the U.S. military's only maximum-security facility that houses male service members convicted at court-martial for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Only male service members with sentences over ten years are confined to the USDB. Those with sentences under ten years are confined in smaller facilities, such as the nearby Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility or the Naval Consolidated Brig at Chesapeake, Virginia. Corrections personnel at the facility are Army Corrections Specialists (MOS 31E) trained at the U.S. Army Military Police school located at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as well as Marine and Air Force corrections personnel.
Female prisoners from all branches of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) are typically incarcerated in the Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar instead of the USDB. [3]
Originally known as the United States Military Prison, the USDB was established by Act of Congress in 1874. Prisoners were used for the bulk of the 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. [4]
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, 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. [5] The site covered 12 acres (4.9 ha) with walls from 16 to 41 feet (4.9 to 12.5 m) high. [6]
The original USDB was Fort Leavenworth's biggest and tallest building sited at the corner of McPherson Avenue and Scott Avenue on bluffs above the Missouri River ( 39°21′36.50″N94°55′0.53″W / 39.3601389°N 94.9168139°W ). The old domed building was nicknamed "Little Top" in contrast to the domed federal prison 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) south which was nicknamed the "Big Top". [7]
During World War I, two brothers named Joseph and Michael Hofer, died at Fort Leavenworth in 1918 after refusing to enlist or wear uniforms after they were drafted under the Selective Service Act of 1917. The pair of conscientious objectors, who were Christian Hutterites, were held in solitary confinement, beaten, and starved to death. [8]
In 1988 the prison had 1,450 prisoners, including 21 women. This included 42 officers, the highest ranking being a lieutenant colonel. [9] By 2014, all female prisoners have been moved to NAVCONBRIG Miramar. [3] In August 1988, an inmate named David Newman escaped after hiding in Pope Hall while on Wood Shop detail. He assembled a ladder, kicked out a window and climbed over the wall between Towers 3 and 4. He was captured four days later in Kansas City. Following the escape, bars were placed on the windows of all buildings within the complex and interior chain link with razor wire top guard was placed between the buildings and the exterior stone walls. [10] Shortly before the detention barracks closed more than 300 inmates refused lockdown on 12 May 1995. The uprising was put down by 150 correction officers. [11]
In 2002, Gail Dillon of Airman magazine wrote of the old detention barracks:
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. [12]
In the late 1990s, work began on a new purpose-built military detention center on the site of the former USDB Farm Colony. The largest buildings of the original barracks ("The Castle") were torn down in 2004. The walls and ten of the buildings in the original location—including Pope Hall—have been converted or are in the process of being converted to other uses at Fort Leavenworth. The prison's original commandant's house still remains. [13]
The new state-of-the-art, 515-bed, disciplinary barrack, which cost $67.8 million ($110 million in 2023 dollars), became operational in September 2002. It was built about a mile north of the original USDB at Fort Leavenworth. The new 51 acres (210,000 m2) site 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 prisoners. The units, described as "bow ties", are two-tiered, connected triangular shaped domiciles. [14] 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. [15] 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." [16]
In 2009, the Barracks, along with the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility in Michigan, were being considered for relocation of 220 prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Kansas officials, including both U.S. Senators, objected to the transfer; Pat Roberts stated that the transfer would require 2,000 privately owned acres around the fort to be acquired through the use of eminent domain to establish a stand-off zone because the prison is on the perimeter of the fort. [17]
The new prison reflects current prison design of smaller low-rise separate buildings where prisoners can be more easily isolated from the general population. [5] In 2012 the facility received a 100% rating and the accolades from an assessment team from the American Correctional Association (ACA) (who have been auditing the sites since 1988). Three independent evaluators visited the prison facilities to check on more than 500 standards, including mental health services, safety issues, and other aspects of the facility related to humane treatment of inmates. The USDB received a top rating in all of the standards despite having a portion of its staffing deployed to Iraq. The facility has maintained this rating and score on each of its subsequent triennial inspections. [18]
The USDB is staffed by both "green-suiters," Service Members assigned to the 15th Military Police Brigade as well as DoD liaisons from each branch, and DA Civilians. Many soldiers have a designated Military Occupational Specialty 31E, corrections specialists, while treatment and support staff range from food services to occupational therapists and chaplains. The unit is designated a Direct Reporting Unit under Army Corrections Command, which was activated in Washington, D.C., in 2007 under the Provost Marshal General. [19]
In August 2010, two inmates overpowered an MP guard in the Special Housing Unit. They then were joined by 11 others. The guard was freed by a special tactics unit which retook control of the Special Housing Unit. Several inmates and one rescuer sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the incident. This was the first such incident in the new prison. [11]
Deceased prisoners who are not claimed by their family members are buried near the original USDB. There are 300 graves dating from approximately 1894 to 1957, 56 of which are unmarked and 14 that belong to German prisoners of war executed for the murder of fellow POWs. The executions were carried out in 1945, in three groups: five on 10 July, two on 14 July, and seven on 25 August. [20] The most recent interment in the cemetery was in May 2023.
The USDB houses the U.S. military’s death row inmates who have been convicted of one or more capital offenses under the UCMJ and sentenced to death by a court-martial. All four death row inmates currently awaiting execution are former U.S. military personnel convicted of murder; however, enemy combatants who are currently being tried before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay would be transferred to USDB for execution if they are convicted and sentenced to death. [21]
Since 1945, there have been 21 executions at the USDB, including 14 German prisoners of war executed in 1945 for murder. [22] The last execution by the U.S. military was the hanging of Army PFC John A. Bennett, on 13 April 1961, for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl. [23] Bennett's execution took place four years after it was approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and then his successor President John F. Kennedy. Bennett applied to Kennedy for a stay of execution after an appeal to him from the Austrian victim and her parents for Bennett. This was promptly denied by the White House. [24]
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 11 July 2018 [update] , there are four inmates on death row at the USDB, the most recent addition being Nidal Hasan.
The execution of Army private Ronald A. Gray, who has been on military death row since 1988, was approved by President George W. Bush on 28 July 2008. Gray was convicted of the rape, two murders and an attempted murder of three persons, two of them Army soldiers and the third a civilian taxi driver whose body was found on the post at Fort Cavazos (then Fort Hood). [25] On 26 November 2008, a federal judge granted Gray a stay of execution to allow time for further appeals. [26] [ needs update ]
All 21 executions in the history of the USDB took place at the old facility.[ citation needed ] The old facility had a lethal injection chamber next to the men's death row. [27] The chamber was called the "special processing unit". New York Daily News described the facility as "virtually identical to the" execution chamber at U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute. [28] When the new facility was constructed, though the federal death penalty moratorium had been in effect since 1972 meaning the sentence had not been carried out, there were still individuals sentenced and convictions being handed out that carried a possibility for the punishment.
The new facility was not constructed with a death chamber; [29] Pursuant to the reinstatement of capital punishment at the federal level, all federal executions take place at United States Penitentiary Terre Haute.
Within the prison, death row is located in an isolated corridor away from other inmates. [30] There are currently four men assigned to this area of the prison and four others formerly assigned, who were granted clemency by the President of the United States residing in general population.
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.
A military prison is a prison operated by a military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime. There are two types: penal and confinement-oriented, where captured enemy combatants are confined for military reasons until hostilities cease. Most militaries have some sort of military police unit operating at the divisional level or below to perform many of the same functions as civilian police, from traffic-control to the arrest of violent offenders and the supervision of detainees and prisoners of war.
The use of capital punishment by the United States military is a legal punishment in martial criminal justice. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been carried out by the U.S. military in over sixty years.
Potosi Correctional Center (PCC) is a Missouri Department of Corrections prison located in unincorporated Washington County, Missouri, near Mineral Point. The facility currently houses 800 death row, maximum security and high-risk male inmates.
Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) is an American women's California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison located in Chowchilla, California. It is across the road from Valley State Prison. CCWF is the second largest female correctional facility in the United States, and houses the only State of California death row for women.
The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison located just outside Lucasville in Scioto County, Ohio. The prison was constructed in 1972. As of 2023, the warden is Cindy Davis.
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.
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.
Chillicothe Correction Institution, or CCI, is a state-run medium security prison on the west bank of the Scioto River just outside Chillicothe, Ohio. It is located adjacent to Ross Correctional Institution and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. The prison is a former military camp, named for Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. It later became a federal penitentiary and has housed several high-profile prisoners including Charles Manson in 1952, bootlegger and future NASCAR driver Junior Johnson, and serial killer Anthony Sowell.
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 United States Army Corrections Command (ACC) exercises command and control and operational oversight for policy, programming, resourcing, and support of Army Corrections System (ACS) facilities and TDA elements worldwide.
Michael Chase Behenna is a former United States Army First Lieutenant who was convicted of the 2008 murder of Ali Mansur Mohamed during the occupation of Iraq. Behenna is colloquially associated with a group of U.S. military personnel convicted of war crimes known as the Leavenworth 10. He was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, which was later reduced to 15 years, and served his sentence in the United States Disciplinary Barracks on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army post in Kansas. He was granted parole on March 14, 2014, after serving less than five years of his sentence. Since his release from prison he has worked as a farmhand. On May 6, 2019, Behenna received a pardon from President Donald Trump.
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.
The Maywand District murders were the thrill killings of at least three Afghan civilians perpetrated by a group of U.S. Army soldiers from January to May 2010, during the War in Afghanistan. The soldiers, who referred to themselves as the "Kill Team", were members of the 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, and 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. They were based at FOB Ramrod in Maiwand, in Kandahar Province of Afghanistan.
Colorado State Penitentiary is a Level V maximum security prison in the U.S. state of Colorado. The facility is part of the state's East Cañon Complex, together with six other state correctional facilities of various security levels.
The Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility (J.R.C.F.) is a military prison at 831 Sabalu Road, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas which opened in 2010.
Capital punishment is currently a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Kansas, although it has not been used since 1965.
The Wyoming State Penitentiary is an American historic and current prison in Rawlins, Carbon County, Wyoming, which has operated from 1901. It moved within Rawlins to a new location in 1981. In 2018, it is a Wyoming Department of Corrections state maximum-security prison for men.
Derrick Miller is a former US Army National Guardsman sergeant who was sentenced in 2011 to life in prison with the chance of parole for the murder of an Afghan civilian during a battlefield interrogation. Miller is colloquially associated with a group of U.S. military personnel convicted of war crimes known as the Leavenworth 10. After being incarcerated for eight years, Miller was granted parole and released in 2019. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Justice for Warriors Caucus and Military Adviser to Texas Republican U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert.
Additionally, all female prisoners within DOD serve their time at NAVCONBRIG Miramar to better facilitate the rehabilitative process.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)The military also has jurisdiction over military commissions, which are tribunals convened to try people accused of unlawful conduct associated with war, such as those established in Guantánamo Bay after the September 11, 2001 attacks. No one has been sentenced to death under these commissions.
There is no death chamber at the USDB[...]- Note the year is 2013, so it is talking about the new facility.