Private prison says it has ‘right’ to run ICE detention in KS, doesn’t need city’s OK
Despite withdrawing an application to operate its shuttered jail facility as an immigrant detention center from the city of Leavenworth, CoreCivic appears poised to pursue a contract with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement anyway.
CoreCivic’s spokesperson Ryan Gustin told The Star in a written statement, “we look forward to continuing to serve our federal partners at our Midwest Regional Reception Center,” citing the company’s “long and positive” relationship with the Leavenworth community.
When the city of Leavenworth announced last Friday that CoreCivic was no longer pursuing a special use permit, many people thought that meant tentative plans had been scrapped.
“This was a win for how the community of Leavenworth came together, spoke their truth, and said ‘no’. But it speaks volumes that CoreCivic couldn’t bear even this small amount of accountability,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas said in a statement.
According to City Manager Scott Peterson, the reasoning behind CoreCivic’s abrupt about-face on the application has nothing to do with a change in the company’s vision for entering into a contract with ICE to house hundreds of rounded up immigrants.
The facility has undergone no structural changes since its contract serving as a maximum-security detention center for the U.S. Marshals Service expired under a Joe Biden executive order more than three years ago.
Gustin told The Star earlier this month that his company believes it has “always operated this facility by right.” CoreCivic currently runs 14 immigrant detention centers around the country.
He refused to explain the abrupt withdrawal of the special use permit application or expound on the prison company’s plan for the Leavenworth facility in a phone call.
“The guidance I’m getting right now is that the extent of our comments are contained in the statement I just provided to you,” Gustin told a reporter.
ICE did not respond to requests for comment for this story and has not acknowledged The Star’s Freedom Of Information Act request for communications between agency officials and CoreCivic.
Under the terms of an agreement signed last month by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, an unspecified number of Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents will be enlisted to help ICE arrest immigrants in the state.
Reality inside CoreCivic facility
Forgoing the application, which the city requested as a condition for reopening the facility, means abandoning plans for at least three public meetings where the request would be discussed. The City Commission’s calendar called for a final ruling on the application in May.
Over the last three years, repeated efforts by CoreCivic to advance its ICE proposal have fallen apart amid local resistance. Some detractors have highlighted the prison’s history of violence and others have expressed anti-immigrant sentiments and worry that people brought to the detention center might take up permanent residence in Leavenworth.
“Taking a profit-driven shortcut and ignoring real people’s input would be consistent with CoreCivic’s track record across the country and locally,” the ACLU said in its statement.
“Previously, at the same facility they seek to reopen under an ICE contract, CoreCivic ignored the voices of staff, detainees, and even the Department of Justice who all raised concerns about understaffing, safety, and security. That disregard had dangerous and sometimes deadly consequences and resulted in serious human rights violations.”
William Rogers, a Wyandotte County resident and former prison guard who worked at CoreCivic’s Leavenworth facility from 2016-2020, said chronic understaffing precipitated rampant drug use and an environment of violence in the private prison.
He told The Star he was stabbed by an inmate in 2020 and received 14 stitches after his head was split open in a separate altercation. On multiple occasions, he attempted life-saving measures on inmates who had committed suicide or overdosed.
“After you get stabbed or after you have someone die in your hands, nobody ever came to you and said, ‘Hey, Bill, are you all right? Are you ready to work? Are you good to go back?’” Rogers said.
“Had they had those hearings, I believe there was going to be quite a few people come out and speak about the realities of CoreCivic.”
Executive session
Peterson told The Star on Monday that the commission would discuss possible paths forward at Tuesday evening’s special meeting. The five-member commission held a 40-minute executive session to discuss legal strategies but took no binding action.
Assistant City Manager Penny Holler deferred to CoreCivic for comment Tuesday about future plans for the rebranded prison and the city government’s involvement in its potential reopening. Before the closure at the end of 2021, the CoreCivic facility was so understaffed and violent that U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson called it a “hell-hole” in its final months.
Justin Gust, vice president of community engagement at El Centro, shared the city of Leavenworth’s Facebook post on Friday, thanking the more than 1,600 people who signed a petition calling for the denial of the application.
He said he’s still cautiously optimistic about the ability of grassroots organizations to influence what could be a bitter fight over whether CoreCivic can agree to house as many as 1,033 immigrants arrested by ICE. That fight could play out as President Donald Trump ramps up his mass deportation push.
“Some of the federal administration and also state government have just been using similar tactics of we’re just going to proceed even though it’s not in the due process or the right procedures or, you know, lawful, and just wait and see what happens in court,” said Gust, whose nonprofit resource center provides educational, social and economic services for Hispanic families in and around Kansas City.
“I’m not terribly surprised that that is the tactic they’re just trying to use. But we’re still watching and very concerned. I think it’s good to still try to celebrate a small win because they took it back for some reason, whether they just didn’t want to deal with the community pushback or they’re just trying to plan a different route to get it done without that hassle.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
