United States Disciplinary Barracks

The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), popularly known as “Leavenworth” or “the Castle”, is a military prison located on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The prison should not be confused with the nearby United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth. It is the United States Military’s only maximum-security facility and houses service members convicted at courts-martial for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Although prison inmates come from all branches of the military only commissioned officers, enlisted prisoners serving sentences longer than 5 years, and prisoners convicted of offenses related to national security serve their sentence at the USDB. Enlisted prisoners with sentences under 5 years are housed in smaller facilities, such as the Regional Correction Facility at Fort Knox, Kentucky or the Marine Corps Brig at Quantico, Virginia.

Originally known as the United States Military Prison, it was established by Act of Congress in 1874. Prisoners were used for the majority of construction, which began in 1875 and was completed in 1921. The facility was able to house up to 1,500 prisoners. From 1895 until 1903 prisoners from the USDB were used to construct United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth until around 400 federal prisoners were moved there to complete the work.

A new 521 capacity facility was built to replace the ageing structures and was opened in 2002. Although there was some interest in preserving the old structures, it was deemed to be too expensive and demolition of the old structures began in 2004. Guards for the prison are mainly drawn from soldiers of U.S. Army Military Police trained as Corrections Specialists at the US Army Military Police School located at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

The USDB houses the U.S. Military's Death Row. There have been 29 executions at the USDB, including twelve German prisoners of war that were executed in 1944 for murder. The last execution carried out at the prison, which was also the last execution by the U.S. Military, was Army Pfc. John A. Bennett, who was executed by hanging on 13 April 1961 for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl. All prisoners executed the USDB have been by hanging, however should another execution be carried out it will be done by lethal injection. There are currently eight prisoners on death row at the USDB, the most recent addition being Hasan Akbar. Two of the eight, James Murphy and William Kreutzer, are awaiting retrial or resentencing.

The Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery serves as the burial site for deceased prisoners that are not claimed by the family members. There were 300 graves dating from between approximately 1894 and 1957, 56 of those are unmarked and 14 belong to German prisoners of war. It is unlikely that there will be further burials at the site as it is expected that the family of the deceased will make funeral arrangements.

Although not directly named, the USDB was fictionally portrayed in the 2001 motion picture The Last Castle starring Robert Redford.

References

• Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery from Internment.net
• The U.S. Military Death Penalty from the Death Penalty information Center
• List of U.S. Military Executions from the Death Penalty information Center
• United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth Information from Leavenworth Area Development
• List of Executions in Kansas from Before the Needles