Prisons in the Leavenworth Area: Books

The hot house : life inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley "Author of the acclaimed Family of Spies, Pete Earley is the first writer ever permitted unlimited access to America's oldest federal prison. Out of the iron belly of this maximum-security penitentiary comes his stunning account of life behind bars--the nation's hardest criminals doing hard time..." "It's a self-contained metropolis behind vast walls built in 1895; a lethal place governed by ruthless clans competing for dominance. Murder is frequent, rape is less for sex than for power, and respect is the coin of the realm. Once disrespected, a Leavenworth inmate has two choices: he can submit to virtual slavery--or he can fight his antagonist until one of them dies." "Nicknamed "the Hot House" because of the sweltering conditions of its cellblocks, the federal penitentiary in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, seethes with the pervasive threat of riot. It is the most dreaded facility in the system--not because of its maximum-security rating, but because of its fierce population: sociopathic gangsters, Aryan Nation neo-Nazi killers, muscle toughs, ruthless narcotics profiteers, and heavyset bikers pockmarked with bullet wounds like acne scars. Even the shaven-legged "punks," the drunks, and the junkies may be carrying homemade "shank" knives under their shirts." "Pete Earley, celebrated investigative reporter, conducted literally hundreds of hours of interviews, all but living inside the primordial world of Leavenworth. Out of this extraordinary firsthand access, as well as essential documents, telephone transcripts, and prison files, comes the riveting story of what life is actually like inside this most famous of prisons. The Hot House depicts the gulf between the thinking of us "Square Johns" and the inmates--people a Hot House prison psychologist termed as having "only two emotions, fear and anger. Everything these inmates do revolves around those two emotions and nothing else."" "The Hot House focuses on a few of the "star" players in Leavenworth: among them Carl Cletus Bowles, the sexual predator with a talent for murder; Dallas Scott, a gang member who, at age forty-two, has spent almost thirty of those years behind bars; Warden Robert Matthews, who put his shoulder against his prison's immovable grim reality; Thomas Silverstein, a sociopath confined in "no human contact status" since 1983; and William Post, a bank robber with a criminal record going back to when he was eight years old, and the nickname "Catman" because he takes devoted care of the cats that live inside Leavenworth. The inmates are kept under control by an enormous staff of guards, whose main job is to keep the turf wars at bay and quell riots before they erupt." "Not only a gripping account of real men behind bars and those who control them, Pete Earley's book is also a startling meditation on national prison policy. The United States has the dubious distinction of locking up the highest percentage of its population of any country in the world. The subject matter of The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison colors our daily lives and fills every night's newscasts. This disquieting book compels wide attention."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Leavenworth Penitentiary : a history of America's oldest federal prison by J. H. Johnston The title consists of short highly readable accounts on all aspects of the development, construction, history and life inside Leavenworth for both employees and prisoners.

Leavenworth train : a fugitive's search for justice in the vanishing west by Joe Jackson For twenty-four years Frank Grigware ran from the law. Convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sentenced in 1909 to life in Leavenworth, America's first federal penitentiary, Grigware joined five other inmates in a daring escape. The six men hijacked a supply train and rammed it through the prison's west gate. Investigative journalist Joe Jackson, four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and 2002 Edgar Award nominee for Best Fact Crime book, follows a young, guileless Grigware in a journey not tofabulous adventure in America's legendary West but rather to an ill-fated association with train robbers--and to his arrest and soon, imprisonment. Five months later, Grigware would be journeying again, this time in desperate flight across the Canadian border to a new life as a husband, father, and mayor. Grigware's story is also the story of the Pinkerton detective agency and of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, which sought Grigware through the 1920s and '30s. It culminates in a meticulously documented, revealing examination of criminal justice in two nations, when Grigware is apprehended by Canadian Mounties and the Canadian government refuses to extradite to the United States "the sort of man we want settling our land"--with results more surprising than fiction. Eight pages of photographs complete this tale of America's most elusive fugitive. "A journalistic meditation on frustrated fantasies, crime, punishment, justice and absolution.... Absorbing.... Meticulously documented."--Washington Post "Gripping."--The Economist

Saga of the Fort Leavenworth "Castle" : a history : including the execution of fourteen German prisoners of war by Donald J. Olsen

U.S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth by Kenneth M. LaMaster On July 1, 1895, under the direction of warden James French, the first federal prison was born. That same year, St. Louis architects Eames and Young went to work drawing up plans for an institution that would house the most notorious offenders in the nation's history. At sunrise on March 1, 1897, 300 inmates and 30 guards marched three miles to the construction site located on the southwest corner of the military reservation. From sunup to sundown seven days a week in the hot Kansas summer to the harsh prairie winters, inmates labored building their new home. Leavenworth's rich history as a gateway to the Old West is second to none. Name a famous figure such as George Armstrong Custer, John Joseph Pershing, Dwight D. Eisenhower, or Colin Powell. They have all graced the streets of this historic community. Equally pick a name of the most notorious criminals. George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert F. Stroud, Frank Nash, Frank "the Enforcer" Nitti, and George "Buggs" Moran--they all stopped by to "spend time in Leavenworth."

United States Disciplinary Barracks by Peter J. Grande On May 21, 1874, Congress approved the establishment of the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), formerly the United States Military Prison at Fort Leavenworth. The original prison was once a quartermaster depot, supplying all military posts, camps, and stations in the Indian Territory to the West. It has been the "center of correctional excellence" in the military for over 130 years, housing the most notorious service members in the armed forces, including maximum-custody inmates and those with death sentences. On October 5, 2002, retreat was played for the last time in front of the eight-story castle inside the old USDB, and another era started with the occupation of a new modern correctional facility.