Wayside Tour #16 : Federal Prison

The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, is the oldest federal correctional facility to continuously house inmates in the United States. On July 1, 1895, inmates were received by the penitentiary at its original site at Fort Leavenworth. Construction of the present facility lasted from March 1897 to February 1903, when the first 418 inmates were incarcerated here. The prison is a self-contained unit within a 35 foot wall that extends 30 feet underground, encircling 16 acres.

Some of the more well-known inmates to be housed here were Robert F. Stroud, better known as the Birdman of Alcatraz, and post prohibition gangsters Gaston Means, Joe Barker, Harvey Bailey, Machine Gun Kelly and George "Bugs" Moran.

Today, the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, houses over 1800 medium-security inmates.