ACLU, public defenders urge White House to shut down violent private corrections facility in Kansas

The group detailed ‘stabbings, suicides and even homicide’ at the CoreCivic facility in Leavenworth.


KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The violence and neglect suffered by inmates at a pre-trial detention facility in Leavenworth has become so severe the facility should be shut down, a group of civil rights leaders and public defenders wrote in a letter to officials in Kansas and Washington, D.C.

The letter, dated Thursday, said leaders at CoreCivic Leavenworth have shown “deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of the incarcerated.”

“CoreCivic Leavenworth is dangerously understaffed, poorly managed and incapable of safely housing its detainee population,” the letter says. “Stabbings, suicides and even homicide have occurred with alarming frequency in the last year with weapons, drugs and other contraband now a common occurrence.”

The group — which includes ACLU chapters and public defender offices in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa — also wrote that inmates’ “basic human needs are not being met.” Food, medical care and showers are limited, and contact with legal counsel and family members has been denied.

Read more: https://kansasreflector.com/2021/09/03/aclu-public-defenders-urge-white-house-to-shut-down-violent-private-corrections-facility-in-kansas/