U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth
()
About this ebook
Kenneth M LaMaster
Kenneth M. LaMaster has worked since 1979 in all three of Leavenworth�s famous penitentiaries. His career began as a guard inside the United States Disciplinary Barracks on Fort Leavenworth. In May 1982, LaMaster went to work as a corrections officer at the Kansas State Penitentiary. On July 24, 1983, LaMaster went to work at U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth. He has served as a correctional officer, materials handler, and institution historian.
Related to U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth
Related ebooks
Moundsville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSunken Gold: A Story of World War I Espionage and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leavenworth Seven: The Deadly 1931 Prison Break Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCall in Pinkerton's: American Detectives at Work for Canada Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lost Circuses of Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Casino at Red Men’S Hall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadly Dallas: A History of Unfortunate Incidents & Grisly Fatalities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBARS AND PENS: The Biography of a Prison Writer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder & Mayhem in Rockford, Illinois Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Out Of Reach: The Day Hartford Hospital Burned Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wicked Akron: Tales of Rumrunners, Mobsters and Other Rubber City Rogues Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommerce City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTexas Jailhouse Music: A Prison Band History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ruthless Northlake Bank Robbers: A 1967 Shooting Spree that Stunned the Region Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCry For War, The Story of Suzan and Michael Carson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Marney Rich Keenan's The Snow Killings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFemale Serial Killers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOld West Murders, Mysteries, and Mayhem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVanished Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHurricane in the Hamptons, 1938 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miscarriages of Justice: Famous London Cases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vigilante Days and Ways Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lansing Correctional Facility Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEscape from Broadmoor: The Trials and Strangulations of John Thomas Straffen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsButch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid: The Lives and Legacies of the Wild West's Famous Outlaw Duo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe True Story of Notorious Arizona Outlaw Augustine Chacón Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Crime: Virginia: The State's Most Notorious Criminal Cases Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Red Arrow Men: The 32nd Division on the Villa Verde Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotorious Telluride: Wicked Tales from San Miguel County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChild Kidnapping In The Isle Of Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth - Kenneth M LaMaster
Huckins.
INTRODUCTION
Go anywhere in the world and tell people you are from Leavenworth and you will probably hear, When did you get out?
Known primarily as the home of a United States penitentiary, most people do not know it is much more than that. It is a town rich in history. It is home to the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Lansing Correctional Facility, and the Corrections Corporation of America, Leavenworth Detention Center, run by U.S. marshals. Leavenworth is also the original home of the buck knife, C. W. Parker Carousel and amusements, and famed frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody. Fort Leavenworth supplied early settlers heading west and served as the starting point for exploration of the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. It provided protection for fur traders from the incursions of Native Americans. Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his famed seventh cavalry were frequent visitors. It is home to the Command and General Staff College, the place where generals are made. And it is the final resting place and hallowed ground of American military men and women who have given their all.
Col. Henry H. Leavenworth and members of the Third U.S. Infantry ascended the Missouri River in 1827 in search of land suitable for a permanent cantonment. After much exploration of the eastern side of the river, it was determined there was no suitable land for a military post. Leavenworth located land on the western side of the river that was quite suitable, 20 miles further up the river. On September 19, 1827, official approval was granted and Cantonment Leavenworth was born. Under direction of the secretary of war, the name was changed to Fort Leavenworth in February 1832.
The city of Leavenworth was established in 1854 and 10 years later construction began on the Kansas State Penitentiary. In 1874, the U.S. Department of War established the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. In 1891, Congress approved the Three Prisons Act, which called for the construction of three prisons, one each in the East, the West, and the South. On July 1, 1895, over vigorous protest by the Department of War, Congress directed the transfer of the military prison to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth was born.
Construction began on the new institution located on the southwest edge of Fort Leavenworth in March 1897. For the next 30 years, inmates worked from sun up to late afternoon seven days a week in all types of weather constructing their new home. Early guards were along side to insure an honest day’s work. The rules for guards were almost as stringent as those for the inmates. Day after day, brick by brick, the institution began to take shape. Along the way, escapes, riots, and minor disturbances slowed things down, but they never stopped progress. In 1903, the first 400 inmates were moved into a temporary dormitory located inside what would become the laundry building. The last of the inmates were moved in January 1906, and the military prison was returned to the Department of War.
As construction progressed, onlookers stood along Metropolitan Avenue and gazed. Early photographers in Leavenworth, such as E. E. Henry, the Stevensons, and P. L. Huckins, recorded daily progress with each flash of their shutters. Newspapers and magazines provided vivid details of the events as they unfolded. Souvenirs began to appear. Postcards, plates, and even sterling silver spoons were hocked in an almost circuslike fashion. All the while, the legend of Leavenworth grew.
As decade after decade passed, inmates came and went, including train robbers, businessmen, gangsters, serial killers, counterfeiters, assassins, hit men, those involved in organized crime, labor leaders, government officials, gang members, and international terrorists. The most notorious became synonymous with the legend of the institution.
As with any prison, there was tragedy. Twelve members of Leavenworth’s family have made the ultimate sacrifice, seven at the hands of inmates and the other five in institution accidents. Leavenworth has lost more officers than any other institution in the history of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The families of the fallen are always on our minds and in our hearts.
For the past 110 years, U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth has been home to the country’s most vicious of criminals. It has also been home to one of the most professional correctional forces ever assembled. Many authors have tried to explain what it is like to live and work in America’s most recognizable prison, but if the written word paints a picture, then the photograph should tell a story.
One
THE OLD MILITARY PRISON
James French had held positions as a school teacher, prosecuting attorney, Indiana state representative, state senator, and warden of the Indiana State Prison. On July 1, 1895, the old military prison at Fort Leavenworth was transferred to the Department of Justice. The first U.S. penitentiary was born with French as its first warden. (Author’s collection.)
Built in 1840 as a