FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - The oldest penal institution operated by the federal government is closing and will be replaced by a recently completed $68 million facility.

The U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth opened in 1875 and can hold more than 1,500 inmates, but its current population totals only 450. The new two-story facility has a capacity of 515, and includes an 84-bed administrative segregation unit, as well as a death chamber for military inmates sentenced to die by lethal injection.

Leavenworth is the only maximum-security prison in the military system and holds all male enlisted personnel with sentences of seven years or more. All convicted male officers also are confined there regardless of the length of their sentences.

The old barracks rest on 12 rolling acres along the Missouri River, framed by a rock wall rising as high as 41 feet. The prison's centerpiece is known as "The Castle," a large dome-shaped brick building with eight wings. Preliminary proposals call for the old facility's conversion for use as a training center or archival storage.

The new facility also includes minimum- and maximum-security areas, a medical clinic, chapel, and laundry facility where inmates will supply the fort's military personnel with fresh uniforms.