The United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth was the largest maximum security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005. It became a medium security prison in 2005. It is located in Leavenworth, Kansas. It is an all-male, medium-security facility committed to carrying out the judgments of the Federal Courts. Background The civilian USP Leavenworth is the oldest of three major prisons built on the grounds of Fort Leavenworth. The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) is four miles (6 km) north and is the sole maximum-security penal

.

In September 2009, the prison population consisted of 1,899 inmates in the main building and 407 in the adjoining minimum security camp.

The prison was extensively 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 extensively in the pictorial history titled U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth by Kenneth M. LaMaster. Mr. LaMaster is the retired Institution Historian.

Design

Leavenworth is one of three first generation United States Penitentiaries 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).

The prison follows a format popularized at the Auburn Correctional Facility in New York where the cell blocks were in a large rectangular building. The rectangular building was focused on indoor group labor with a staff continually patrolling.

The Auburn system was a marked difference from the earlier Pennsylvania plan popularized at Eastern State Penitentiary in which cell blocks radiated out from a central building (and was the original design for the nearby Disciplinary Barracks before it was torn down and replaced by a totally new prison).

The St. Louis, Missouri architecture firm of Eames and Young designed both Leavenworth and the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta.

Leavenworth's prison cells are back to back in the middle of the structure facing the walls. The prison's walls are 40 feet (12 m) high, 40 feet (12 m) below the surface and 3,030 feet (920 m) long and enclose 22.8 acres (92,000 m2).

Its domed main building was nicknamed the "Big Top" or "Big House." The domed Disciplinary Barracks two miles (3 km) to the north was nicknamed the "Little Top" until it was torn down in 2004 and replaced with a newer structure.

The large central structure created various maintenance problems. It was nicknamed the "Hot House" because of its poor ventilation even when air conditioning is running. Extensive research by Prison Historian and author Kenneth M. LaMaster has shown that the institution has never been referred to as the "Hot House". Books such as Tom White: The Life of a Lawman and other publications show that the institution has been referred to as "The Big House", "The Big Top", and "The Big L", but never the "Hot House". The latter was popularized after a book of the same title was released by Pete Early in the late 1980s.

The next generation was characterized by the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary built in 1931 which started a move away from a huge central castle like structure. Cell blocks are arranged in a "telephone pole" format extending out from the central building. This eliminated the mixing of prisoners of all types in the same building.

Modern federal prisons such as ADX Florence have gone to smaller buildings spread out over a compound and depend more upon electronic surveillance.

Historical timeline

    1827: Colonel Henry Leavenworth chose site for new fort.
    1875: Fort chosen as the site for a military prison. Within a year, Fort Leavenworth housed more than 300 prisoners in a remodeled, 
              supply-depot building.
    1894: Secretary of War conceded to the House Appropriations Committee that War Department could do without the military prison.
    1895 July 1: Congress transferred the military prison from the War Department to the US Department of Justice. The Department of Justice 
             took over the plant and inaugurated the United States Penitentiary. Commandant of the military prison, James V. Pope. Warden of the 
             USP, James W. French.
    1896: House Judiciary Committee recommended that the facility be replaced.
    1896 June 10: the Congress authorized a new federal penitentiary.
    1897 March: Warden French marched prisoners every morning two and one-half miles (4 km) from Ft. Leavenworth to the new site of the 
             federal penitentiary. Work went on for two and one-half decades.
    1899 July 1: Robert W. McClaughry was appointed Leavenworth's second Warden.
    1901 November 10: Joseph Waldrupe was the first correctional officer to be killed (records dating back to 1901) in the line of duty at 
             Leavenworth.
    1903: Enough space was under roof to permit the first 418 prisoners to move into the new federal penitentiary.
    1904: First Cell house completed
    1906 February 1: All prisoners had been transferred to the new facility, and the War Department appreciatively accepted the return of its 
             prison.
    1910 May: The Attorney General approved construction of a separate cellblock for females on the penitentiary grounds—this plan was later 
             abandoned.
    1913 June: T. W. Morgan, editor of a newspaper in the small Kansas town of Ottawa, was appointed Leavenworth's 3rd Warden.
    1919: Construction of the cellblocks completed.
    1926: Construction of the shoe shops completed.
    1928: Construction of the brush and broom factory completed.
    1929: Construction of the barber shop and first intraprison murder.
    1930 May: the Bureau of Prisons became a federal agency within the Department of Justice.
    1930 September 5: Carl Panzram becomes the first to be executed (records dating back to 1927) by hanging at Leavenworth.
    1934 December 11: President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the first federal prison industries as a public corporation.
    1938 August 12: Robert Suhay and Glenn Applegate the first double execution (records dating back to 1927) by hanging at Leavenworth.
    1980s & 1990s: The institution undergoes major renovations to three of its four cellhouses: A, B, and C. D-Cellhouse today remains the only 
              cellblock true to its original design.
    2005: Federal Bureau of Prisons changes USP Leavenworth's mission. The BOP decided to change the custody level of USP Leavenworth 
              from High / Maximum to Medium while retaining the USP designation for historical reasons.
    2011: The Federal Bureau of Prisons takes comments on a proposed new 1,500 medium security and 300 minimum security facility on the 
              current prison grounds on 144 acres to the west of the current prison and a 238 acre area to the east.

Notable inmates

Famous escapees

Basil Banghart escaped from Leavenworth a total of three times. He escaped federal custody a fourth time while awaiting return to Leavenworth.

Executions

On September 5, 1930, Carl Panzram, under a federal death sentence for murder, was hanged at USP Leavenworth. On August 12, 1938, two men under the sentence of death for murder, Robert Suhay and Glenn Applegate, were hanged at USP Leavenworth.

Officer deaths

Five officers were killed in the line of duty at Leavenworth.

    Joseph B. Waldrupe, November 10, 1901, from injuries received during institution mutiny and mass escape on November 7, 1901.
    Andrew F. Turner, March 26, 1916. Murdered by inmate Robert Stroud aka the Birdman of Alcatraz.
    Edgar A. Barr, March 19, 1917. Murdered during an altercation with an inmate.
    John W. Johnson,, September 29, 1974. Murdered during an altercation with an inmate.
    Wayne L. Selle, July 31, 1973. Murdered by inmates during an institution riot.

In addition, two non-officers were killed in the line of duty between 1922 and 1929:

    Andrew H. Leonard, Captain, November 14, 1922. Murdered during an altercation with an inmate in which six other officers received 
      life-threatening injuries.
    Robert G. Warnke, Laundry Foreman, June 20, 1929. Murdered in institution laundry building by serial killer Carl Panzram.
 

Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit," is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately 54.36-acre (22.00 ha) facility, near Downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, administered as within Region I. The facility, the oldest Texas state prison, opened in 1849. The unit houses the State of Texas execution chamber. It is the most active execution chamber in the United States, with 423 executions between 1982 and 2008. History The prison's first inmates arrived on October 1, 1849. The unit was named after the City of Huntsville. Originally Huntsville Unit was only for White Texans; the only penalties available to Black Texans were whipping and hanging. During the American Civil War, prisoners at Huntsville produced tents and uniforms for Confederate forces at the prison textile factory. After the American Civil War ended, Huntsville Unit was the only prison in the former Confederate States of America to remain. Originally women in the Texas Prison System were housed in the Huntsville Unit. Beginning in 1883 women were housed in the Johnson Farm, a privately-owned cotton plantation near Huntsville. Historically the prison served as the administrative headquarters of the Texas Prison System and the Texas Department of Corrections; the superintendent and the other executive officers worked in the prison, and all of the central offices of the system's departments and all of the permanent records were located in the prison. In 1974, the prison was the site of an eleven-day siege, one of the longest hostage-taking sieges in United States history. Three armed inmates (Fred Carrasco, Ignacio Cuevas, and Rudy Dominquez) held several hostages in the education department. The ring leader, Carrasco, had been a porter in the chapel. Cuevas usually worked in the inmate dining hall. Ten hostages were employees of the prison system: two were educators, and one was a guard. Later on, the prison chaplain would also become a hostage. Four prisoners were also held as hostages. On the

815 12th Street Huntsville, Texas 77342 Capacity 1,705 Opened 1849 Notable prisoners: Chad Butler ("Pimp C") Duane "Dog" Chapman John Wesley HArdin Satana . Huntsville Unit's yard during the 1870s

Facility

The red brick walls lead to the nickname "Walls Unit." While the prison is officially the Huntsville Unit, the prison's red brick walls lead to the nickname "Walls Unit." The prison is 160 miles (260 km) southeast of Dallas. The original cellblock had been closed for several years prior to 2011. Release center The Huntsville Unit serves as one of the TDCJ's regional release centers for male prisoners. Most male prisoners are released to be closer to their counties of conviction, approved release counties, and/or residences. Male prisoners who have detainers, are classified as sex offenders, have electronic monitoring imposed by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and/or have certain special conditions of the Super Intensive Supervision Program (SISP) are released from the Huntsville Unit, regardless of their counties of conviction, residences, and/or approved release

. The red brick walls lead to the nickname "Walls Unit."

Death penalty

The Huntsville Unit is the location of the State of Texas execution chamber. The TDCJ houses male death row inmates in the Polunsky Unit and female death row inmates in the Mountain View Unit.

Between 1819 and 1923 the method of execution was hanging until Texas authorized the use of the electric chair; the use of the electric chair ended the execution of death sentences by counties in Texas. The chair– often euphemistically called "Old Sparky" was constructed by inmates. Between 1924 and 1964, 362 inmates were executed by electrocution. The chair now resides at the Texas Prison Museum, located on Interstate 45 on the north side of Huntsville which features displays of historical items from the prison system, including shanks and other items confiscated from inmates.

Inmates scheduled for execution are brought from death row to the Walls Unit early in the afternoon of their scheduled execution. Unlike other states, Texas does not allow inmates a special meal, because of abuse of the privilege by past prisoners and the rationale that they did not offer a meal to their victims and therefore should not be allowed a special recognition. Inmates can, but are not required to, make a last statement prior to their execution. By law executions are scheduled to begin after 6:00 p.m. Huntsville (Central) time. The inmates are housed until that time about 30 feet from the door of the execution chamber; the Texas Death House is located at the northeast corner of the Walls Unit, just below the #1 picket. There is no law prohibiting multiple executions in a single day, but this has not happened since September 1951.

The execution chamber is a 9-foot (2.7 m) by 12-foot (3.7 m) room with turquoise walls and a gurney. When Jim Willett was the warden of Huntsville Unit, he added a pillow to the gurney. Two adjacent rooms, which view into the execution room through glass windows, house two groups. One room is reserved for the family or families of the crime victim(s). The other is for the family of the condemned.