A look inside potential ICE detention in Leavenworth

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (KCTV) - A for-profit corrections corporation wants to reopen a dormant facility in Leavenworth for use as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility.

CoreCivic, Inc., formerly known as Corrections Corporation of American, submitted a request for a special use permit for “reactivation of the Leavenworth Detention Center, which will operate as the Midwest Regional Reception Center (MRCC).”

KCTV5 was able to get a tour inside the facility on Monday, March 3.

“We’ve never actually shuttered the facility, and we’ve had a contingency of maintenance staff that have been on site providing virtually 24 hours of coverage,” Potential Warden Misty Mackey said.

Mackey said CoreCivic has continued conversations with ICE and will organize the facility based on its needs. She did clarify that the space would house both women and men but would not hold kids or families.

The company spelled out its intentions in a letter to the city’s director of planning and community development.

The agreement with ICE will allow them to “house approximately 1,000 detained noncitizens at the MRRC.”

“On average,” the letter read, “detainees will be held for approximately 51 days as they are processed through the immigration system, including through removal hearings held at the facility.”

“No ICE detainees will be released into the Leavenworth community,” it continued.

Instead, CoreCivic indicated, they would be sent to KCI or the ICE office in Kansas City.

When KCTV5 ed CoreCivic for comment, its public affairs director, Ryan Gustin, sent information about what CoreCivic has to offer and what they will not be doing.

He said the facility would create approximately 300 new jobs, with an approximate starting salary of $28.50 per hour and pay property taxes and impact fees to the city.

He listed off things they will not do:

• We will not release any individuals from the facility directly into the Leavenworth community. In fact, any agreement with ICE will have a provision strictly prohibiting the release of detainees into the community If detainees are found to be released, we would lose our permit to operate with an ICE population.
• We will not operate without direct, onsite oversight from our government partners.
• We do not and will not lobby on any policies, regulations or legislation that impact the basis for or duration of an individual’s detention.
• We do not and will not enforce any immigration laws, arrest anyone who may be in violation of immigration laws, or have any say whatsoever in an individual’s deportation or release.

“CoreCivic has a long history of partnership in Leavenworth,” he wrote. “For nearly three decades, our facility here delivered critical services to our government partner whip providing meaningful careers for local staff and serving as a good corporate citizen in the community.”

LOOKING BACK

Some would disagree with that portrayal.

The facility at 100 Hwy Terrace in Leavenworth isn’t new. The sign in front of the large building on 20 acres surrounded by barbed wire still has its old name visible despite the letters being removed.

The Leavenworth Detention Center had a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) to house people awaiting trial for federal crimes. It closed in 2021 when its contract expired. Earlier that year, President Joe Biden issued an executive order stopping the renewal of federal contracts for private detention centers.

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report on the contract that described understaffing and lack of oversight leading to “issues affecting the safety and security” of the facility.

Tuesday night, Bill Rogers held up the 2-inch-thick report and urged city commissioners to read it before deciding on CoreCivic’s proposal. He explained that he had been a guard there from 2016 to 2020 and described violence against guards and inmates.

“The things that I seen and experienced, nobody should have to see or experience,” Rogers told the commission.

A DOJ news release accompanying the 2017 report detailed some of the impacts of the staffing shortage, including the closure of security posts.

“Many of the closures occurred at posts CoreCivic had identified as ‘mandatory,’ meaning they were required to be filled on each shift in order to run the facility in safe and secure manner,” the release read. “The vacancies also led LDC managers to reassign staff who were not correctional officers to cover security posts instead of performing their normal jobs, sometimes to the detriment of detainee services.”

“How are they going to do it better?” Rogers asked the city commission. “And do you want to give them that chance?”

MOVING FORWARD

Leavenworth City Manager Scott Peterson said city staff were first approached by CoreCivic in the fall with questions about the process for re-opening.

Peterson explained that the city now requires a special use permit to operate a correctional facility. When it opened in its previous incarnation, that was not required.

The city has been having internal conversations with CoreCivic since then to negotiate some provisions they thought were important to address in advance. Those include previous problems with sewage and concerns about detainees being released into the city — both of which are addressed in the application.

Next month, before the planning commission votes on the special use permit, city commissioners will begin discussing what’s known as an intergovernmental service agreement and whether they want to proceed with it.

He explained why the non-elected city staff did some of the legwork internally to start with.

“(We want) to give the city commission all of the options that are available to them to make sure they make the best decision for the city of Leavenworth,” Peterson said. “They’ve made it clear they want to have those conversations publicly to give everybody an opportunity to have their input, so there are no discussions going on behind closed doors.”

Now that the special use permit application has been filed, he said, discussions will begin with elected officials.

Peterson listed off some of the things the city already addressed with CoreCivic, including the stipulation that no detainee would be released in the city of Leavenworth. The application also includes information related to wastewater. That, Rogers said, was a concern in the facility in years past.

“Chief among (our concerns) is to make sure that if the facility were to open, that anybody inside that facility would be treated humanely and be given the rights that they deserve,” Peterson said. “We would also want to make sure that our core services at the city level are not negatively impacted by the opening of that facility. And finally, we want to make sure that no detainees are released into the city of Leavenworth.”

The hearing before the city’s planning board is scheduled for April 7. The planning board consists of different than the city commission. Peterson explained that the matter will come before the city commission after that vote regardless of the outcome of the planning commission vote.

KCTV5 was made aware of an email from CoreCivic about an informational luncheon at the facility on Saturday. Gustin clarified that it is a private event with “a small number of leaders from the city, county and state level.”

Peterson said he is aware of commissioners who have been invited and does not know who will attend. He said city staff were also invited, but he has instructed them not to attend.

“We will have plenty of other opportunities to have those conversations with CoreCivic on our own,” he said. “We’re not involved with that meeting, and we thought it would just be better to stay aside.”

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