KC STAR GUEST COMMENTARY: Don’t let a private company break the law to reopen Leavenworth prison for ICE
By MIke Trapp - 4/6/2025
This article was originally posted in the Kansas City Star. Click Here to go to original article. to go to original article.
CoreCivic, the second largest private prison company in America, is seeking to reactivate a shuttered facility in Leavenworth as an ICE detention center. As a private prison CoreCivic had a long and troubled history of mismanagement and unsafe conditions before closing in 2021 with the cancellation of their private prison contract.
CoreCivic’s record speaks for itself. In 2017, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson described conditions at their Leavenworth facility as “an absolute hellhole.” A federal audit found that 25 percent of staff positions were unfilled, leaving inmates unsupervised while guards scrambled to monitor multiple units at once. Weapons and contraband were commonplace.
The company’s failures weren’t just administrative, they were violent. William Rogers, a former CoreCivic employee, was stabbed and had his head split open due to short staffing. Another guard was beaten and stabbed so brutally she required 16 surgeries—only for CoreCivic to cut off her health insurance while she was on worker’s comp. She now lives in poverty but still came out to testify of CoreCivic’s negligence and mismanagement, to the Leavenworth City Commission.
Even before its closure, CoreCivic engaged in deception, removing beds to hide overcrowding from inspectors. This is not a company that makes mistakes. It is a company that commits fraud and prioritizes profits over people—and it has no place in Leavenworth. CoreCivic’s CEO Damon Hininger makes close to $6 million per year but can’t adequately staff his private prisons and detention facilities.
In 2023 the Leavenworth County Commission voted unanimously to halt discussions with CoreCivic to reopen the facility as an ICE detention center. CoreCivic persisted and filed for a Special Use Permit with the City of Leavenworth to reopen the facility. Again, public opposition flared and CoreCivic faced with three brutal public hearings and a City Commission that could reject their bid declared that they could open the facility without a permit by right.
The land in question is zoned Industrial, not Prison. Since 2012 detention centers have required a Special Use Permit in that location. That’s the law. But CoreCivic’s new argument? That their empty, non-operational facility – which hasn’t held a single detainee going on four years – somehow counts as continually in use. Because they kept one staffer around to keep the lights on? That’s their case. And it’s ridiculous.
After hours of passionate testimony from opponents to CoreCivic and the lawless nature of our present immigration policy the Leavenworth City Commission rejected this argument. They passed a resolution declaring CoreCivic needed a Special Use Permit to operate and that they would use every legal means to protect their right to regulate land use in Leavenworth.
Now is the time to reach out to the Leavenworth City Commission to thank them for their bold statement and encourage them to stand strong in the face of an unaccountable corporation trying to run roughshod over our local community. Whether CoreCivic is allowed to open in clear defiance of the law, massive public disapproval, and two unanimous votes by local elected officials will ultimately be determined by the courts. But here’s the bigger picture: this isn’t just CoreCivic. This incident is part of a disturbing national trend – giant corporations deciding that laws don’t apply to them. That they can bully communities into submission. That they can use their size, their money and their lawyers to steamroll local governments, dodge accountability and dare us to stop them.
It’s not just about zoning. It’s about who runs our towns – the people who live here, or the billion-dollar companies that think they are above the law.
Leavenworth isn’t for sale.
