Leavenworth 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 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 northwest of Kansas City, Kansas.
The civilian USP Leavenworth is the oldest of three major prisons built on federal land in Leavenworth County, Kansas. It is often confused with, but separate from the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), which is a military facility located on the adjacent Fort Leavenworth. The USDB is 4 miles (6.4 km) north and is the sole maximum-security penal facility of the United States Military. Prisoners from the original USDB were used to build the civilian penitentiary. In addition, the military's medium security Joint Regional Correctional Facility, located southwest of the new USDB, opened in 2010. The USDB and JRCF operate independently from the 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 the 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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