USP 1906: Famous Criminals

Although the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth is not open for public tours, it is known throughout the world. https://www.leavenworthks.org/visitors/page/united-states-federal-penite...

Robert Stroud - "Birdman" 

Although Robert Stroud's name recalls the 1960s movie, "Birdman of Alcatraz," it was at Leavenworth, Kansas, where Stroud was incarcerated for 30 years. He was initially housed at Leavenworth, then transferred to Alcatraz. Stroud was convicted of manslaughter and served time in a state corrections center in his home state of Washington. He stabbed a fellow prisoner. In 1912 he was transferred to Leavenworth. It was there in 1916 when he murdered a guard, Andrew F. Turner, in front of 1,100 witnesses. He was sentenced to death by hanging, which was later commuted.

Stroud was known for his interest in birds. In Leavenworth, he was allowed to study and keep birds and even took university extension courses. He published a book in 1943, "Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds." More information from the Missouri State Digital Collections on Robert Stroud can be read here: https://digitalcollections.missouristate.edu/digital/collection/Stroud

George "Machine Gun" Kelly Barnes, was a gangster and bootlegger during the Prohibition Era. He was arrested in the late 1920s for smuggling liquor onto an American Indian reservation and sentenced to three years at Leavenworth's penitentiary. After his release, he continued his criminal behavior and was arrested in 1933 for the kidnapping and extortion of Charles F. Urschel and Walter Jarrett. Under the "Lindbergh Law," kidnapping had become a federal crime and he was subsequently incarcerated at Leavenworth. For a time he was transferred to Alcatraz, but eventually returned to the Leavenworth prison where he died of a heart attack on July 18, 1954.

Carl Panzram was a notorious criminal who spent time in both the United States Disciplinary Barracks on Fort Leavenworth, as he was a member of the military at the time, and eventually at the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth where he was executed by hanging on Sept. 5, 1930. Panzram claimed to have murdered 23 people and thousands of sexual assaults. More information from the San Diego State University Library on Carl Panzram.