Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary
Prison from the southwest
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| Location | Leavenworth, Kansas |
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| Coordinates | 39°19′48″N 94°56′11″W / 39.33000°N 94.93639°WCoordinates: 39°19′48″N 94°56′11″W / 39.33000°N 94.93639°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | Medium-security (with minimum-security satellite camp) |
| Population | 1,870 (475 in prison camp) |
| Opened | 1903 |
| Managed by | Federal Bureau of Prisons |
| Warden | Claude Maye |
The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP Leavenworth) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates that is located 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.
USP Leavenworth is located 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Kansas City, Kansas.
USP Leavenworth, a civilian facility, is the oldest of three major prisons built on federal land in Leavenworth County, Kansas. It is separate from, but often confused with, the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), a military facility located on the adjacent Fort Leavenworth army base. Located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the USP, the USDB is the sole maximum-security penal facility for the entire United States Military. Prisoners from the original USDB were used to build the civilian penitentiary. In addition, the military's medium-security Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility (JRCF), located southwest of the new USDB, opened in 2010. The USDB and JRCF operate independently from USP Leavenworth.
The prison was 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 in a pictorial history titled U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth by Kenneth M. LaMaster, the retired Institution Historian.
USP Leavenworth was the largest maximum-security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005 when it was downgraded to a medium-security facility.
USP Leavenworth was one of three first generation federal prisons which were 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.
The other two were Atlanta and McNeil Island (although McNeil dates to the 1870s the major expansion did not occur until the early 1900s).
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