Leavenworth, Kansas — A private prison company has moved one step closer to opening a planned 1,000-bed immigration detention center in Kansas, but with restrictions included by local government officials after hearing a raft of concerns from the public.
In a meeting that stretched well into the evening, the Leavenworth Planning Commission heard professional recommendations and passionate public comments about the company. The issue has become, for some residents, a local node in a nationwide political clash over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Monday’s packed meeting was the first in a series of public hearings on CoreCivic’s application for a special use permit, or SUP.
Commissioners added extra requirements to the recommendation. That includes allowing city officials in the facility within two business days of written notice. Another focuses on infrastructure, saying the company must upgrade equipment to prevent sewage issues that happened in the past.
The panel also suggested the permit should only be good for three years, compared to the originally proposed five.
Rick Joyce, a retired corrections employee, spoke in favor of the company’s application and urged the panel to approve it.
“I say let’s let them have a chance,” Joyce said. “Let’s evaluate them. We’ll keep both our eyes on them. And if they screw up, we’re gonna let them know about it.”
But even the added controls did not convince all members of the planning commission. Kenneth Bateman raised concerns and ultimately was the only member of the six-person panel to vote against it.
“It’s a bulldog contract but the bulldog has rubber teeth,” Bateman said during the meeting.
The proposal would reactivate a former detention center that stopped housing inmates in 2021.
By that time, reports of mismanagement and abuse had been piling up for years. Former staff and inmates said they saw preventable drug use, injury and death on a regular basis — problems exacerbated by chronic understaffing, according to a 2017 audit by the U.S. Department of Justice.
A CoreCivic spokesperson previously told the Kansas News Service that most issues with safety and staffing took place in an 18-month period during the pandemic.
The SUP application comes after nearly a year of overlapping lawsuits over a key question: does CoreCivic need to apply for a permit with the city to reopen the facility in pursuit of a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement?
The company previously said it did not need a permit, then decided to pursue one, while still saying it wasn’t required.
The outcome of the dispute over local permitting procedures could determine whether the historic prison town in northeast Kansas will become a regional hub for the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign to detain and deport immigrants who lack legal status.
Looming in the background of the night’s testimony was an upcoming court case in a state court of appeals. CoreCivic is set to argue in court that the permit it’s pursuing is not necessary under the law.
“By submitting this application and participating in the SUP application process, CoreCivic in no way concedes that it is subject to the City's SUP requirements,” wrote Lucibeth Mayberry, CoreCivic’s chief strategic officer, in a letter accompanying the company’s December permit application.
Leavenworth City Manager Scott Peterson confirmed in an interview prior to the hearing that the city commission would consider, but is not bound by, the planning commission’s recommendation.
Tension over immigration policy threaded through every exchange at the meeting between advocates — many of whom said they opposed the detention center on principle — and city officials, who tried to keep discussion focused on the permit process.
“We’re talking about a limited case,” Bateman said. "It's not about ICE, it's not about the Trump administration."
Based on that logic, Bateman admonished multiple opponents of the facility to stay on the topic of the SUP.
Mike Trapp, an organizer who has been a regular voice in public hearings on the issue, made a concrete recommendation to the commission: That they require CoreCivic to pay a “performance bond.” That would be a sum of money that the company would put up as collateral in the event of any abuse at the facility.
Regular jeers, laughter and applause could be heard in the overflow space just outside the commission room throughout the hearing.
Even the extra requirements that the commission added didn’t satisfy opponents.
Daniel McIntosh is a Leavenworth resident who spoke against the planned detention center. He said the city commission should reject CoreCivic’s application despite the result of Monday's hearing.
“We’ve still got lots more chances to hope that this ends out in a way that we’re not hurting people,” he said after the meeting. “Because when this opens, it will hurt people.”
Zane Irwin reports on politics, campaigns and elections for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at zaneirwin@kcur.org.
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