Leavenworth Federal Correctional Institution, pictured here in 2023, is the subject of criticism from civil rights groups and immigration attorneys who say conditions for immigrants inside are inhumane. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA, Kan. — Immigrants being held inside a federal prison in northeast Kansas and their attorneys reported an unsanitary, inequitable and unhealthy environment that has left people, even those who have won their immigration cases, deprived of basic needs.
Based on interviews with people inside the prison and attorneys representing those people, immigrants face unsanitary and crowded living quarters, extended lockdowns, delayed and costly medical treatment, restricted contact with their families and no access to religious services.
In some cases, these conditions have led to suicide attempts.
“These aren’t criminals,” said Michael Sharma-Crawford, a local immigration attorney and chair of the Kansas and Missouri chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “In theory, none of these people deserves to be in jail.”
A pair of letters — one sent to the warden of the Leavenworth Federal Correctional Institution complaining of a rat infestation and another sent to the warden, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Prisons — detail conditions that are “well below” what is required of the federal agencies.
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Attorneys and advocates claim in the letters, sent May 5 and May 29, that a “significant number” of people remain imprisoned at Leavenworth despite having won their immigration cases, which often fall under civil law, not criminal. Some cannot return to their countries of origin because, upon return, they could face torture or violence.
While the possibility of securing release for people facing deportation is low, Sharma-Crawford said ensuring they are held within legal standards could be done.
Leavenworth, formerly the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison, is one of two facilities in the state currently used to detain immigrants.
In February, ICE and the Bureau of Prisons agreed to hold immigrants at Leavenworth. A separate facility in Leavenworth, a shuttered prison owned by private company CoreCivic, was planned to reopen and detain immigrants as well, but a judge blocked the company from doing so Wednesday based on local zoning rules.
Sharma-Crawford said he has heard anecdotes about ICE officials in and around Chicago driving across the region, including to Kansas and Missouri, frantically trying to find a place to hold people.
More than 1,300 men are typically held in the medium-security prison, and about 220 are held in a minimum security “satellite camp.” At least 80 immigrants are being held at Leavenworth, according to the letter.
Randilee Giamusso, a spokeswoman for the prison bureau, declined to comment on the letter’s claims but confirmed the bureau received the letter.
“The Federal Bureau of Prisons is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public. We have received the letter,” Giamusso wrote in an email. “However, we do not comment on matters related to pending litigation, legal proceedings, or investigations.”
Media officials at ICE did not respond to requests seeking a comment.
Life without sunlight
“Several immigrants” at Leavenworth experienced such a depression from extended lockdown periods, which sometimes lasted 20 hours at a time for three days straight, that they attempted suicide, said the May 29 letter signed by a collection of eight civil rights organizations and attorney groups.
After their suicide attempts, they were reportedly put in solitary confinement.
“One detainee who witnessed a suicide attempt has felt depressed and fearful during subsequent lockdowns,” the letter said, “but has been afraid to report his mental health symptoms to staff for fear that he, too, will be removed from the unit and will be placed in solitary confinement.”
Another representative of the prison bureau declined to confirm or deny the letter’s claims about suicide attempts in Leavenworth.
Karla Juarez, executive director of Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, said in a news release that the conditions at Leavenworth are horrifying.
“What’s happening at FCI Leavenworth is not only a violation of ICE’s own policies — it’s a violation of our shared humanity,” she said.“These are people who have already won their immigration cases and who should be free with their families, not locked in overcrowded cells without access to medical care or even sunlight.”
People serving sentences from criminal convictions at Leavenworth are able to use the prison’s outdoor yard for recreation and exercise. Those in ICE’s custody are not, despite that being a condition of the two agencies’ collaboration.
The agreement between the federal agencies said: “ICE detainees will have access to education and psychology materials, leisure and law libraries, and indoor and outdoor recreation.”
Reports from inside the prison have found that people being held for immigration reasons have access to none of these things.
Plus, a pervasive language barrier has created a hurdle for immigrants in the prison who say their basic needs aren’t being met, the letter said.
Those imprisoned for crimes and in immigration cases both report that they usually do not encounter prison staff who speak Spanish, the letter said. One person who only speaks Spanish said he wasn’t offered a translator when given medical care. Another, who only speaks Russian, said his requests for medical assistance have gone unanswered for months.
Access to prescribed medications, dental care, mental health care and medical care has been delayed, the letter said, and “when they are seen by staff for treatment, they are not provided with proper care and are instructed to pay for medication, which is in violation of ICE policy.”
The letter concludes with a list of 14 recommendations. The foremost suggestion demands the release of all detained immigrants who have won their immigration cases. Others included providing free and timely medical care, interpretation services, free and private confidential calls with attorneys, access to a chaplain, free printing from the prison law library, recreational services, and outdoor time.
The letter was backed by Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation; the American Civil Liberties Union; the ACLU of Kansas; the American Immigration Lawyers Association; the Missouri and Kansas chapter of the immigration lawyers association; the Federal Public Defenders for the District of Kansas; the National Immigrant Justice Center; and the Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation through the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.
The ‘rodent letter’
In early May, the Kansas Federal Public Defenders wrote to Crystal Carter, the prison warden, and Nathan Atkinson, a general attorney for the prison bureau, about a months-long rat infestation in Leavenworth that showed “no signs of abating.”
“Rats have infested the housing area,” said the letter, obtained by Kansas Reflector, “Clients report rats stealing commissary and finding rat feces in their food, as well as finding dead rats in the common areas.”
The federal defenders saw and heard rats during visits with their clients. The letter outlined the health and safety hazards associated with such infestations, arguing that allowing the rodents to remain could degrade conditions so much so that it amounts to a constitutional violation.
Often, in-person visits are the attorneys’ only options, they said in the letter. They called video visits “problematic” because clients are frequently brought into video visitation rooms late, or the wrong person is brought in, or all the rooms are full, so visits have to be done in a common area.
Carter, the warden, stated in a May 13 response obtained by Kansas Reflector that the prison had cleaned infested areas and implemented pest control measures, including regular inspections, baiting, and setting traps.
A person who was detained in Leavenworth earlier this year described the prison to civil rights groups and attorneys as “very dirty.”
“We didn’t have any cleaning supplies. Food was the hardest part because it wasn’t a pleasant meal. There was no way to wash clothes. We only had one uniform, and that was it,” said the man, who was unnamed in a press release from the ACLU of Kansas. “Honestly, the time we were locked up in the cell was the worst. We had no communication with our families, and they didn’t comply with the necessary resources.”
While both letters make claims that the federal agencies are breaking the law, attorneys and advocates have not filed a lawsuit or an official complaint. If proper conditions for immigrants cannot be ensured, that’s when they could go to court, said Sharma-Crawford, the immigration attorney.
At one point, immigration officials and courts would allow leniency for immigrants with open cases who were in good standing, Sharma-Crawford said
“That grace is gone,” he said. “That humanity is gone.”
Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said the Trump administration should cease the use of federal prisons to detain immigrants.
“Holding people in extended lockdown, and denying them access to adequate medical care, legal counsel, and even sunlight isn’t just inhumane,” Cho said. “It’s illegal.”
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This report was first published by the Kansas Reflector, part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network. It’s supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.