Publication by the Topeka Capital-Journal:

Published Monday, July 26, 2004

Historic prison to be razed

The Associated Press
FORT LEAVENWORTH -- An Army prison that once was the home of some of the military's worst criminals is scheduled to be torn down, starting next month.




The opening of a new U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in 2002 left the old Fort Leavenworth military prison obsolete. Military officials announced Friday that "the castle," which once housed as many as 1,500 prisoners, will be demolished 129 years after it was built at Fort Leavenworth.

"We felt it was not fair to the taxpayers to pay for a building that had no further use," said Mike Wolf, an engineer with the Directorate of Installation Support.

The prison wall and some of the smaller buildings at the site will be spared, but a military study of the crumbling facility found no practical reuses for the former maximum-security prison's main structure.

The facility is part of Fort Leavenworth's National Historic Landmark District. It was closed in September 2002 when the new, high-tech prison opened at the fort.

Wolf said demolition is expected to start in mid-August and could take up to a year to complete. Engineers said they expect trucks to carry about 6,000 loads of debris from the site.

While some residents had hoped the prison could become a tourist attraction, problems with the prison's structural integrity were too serious to overcome.

Instead, Wolf said, people who want to get an eyeful of the old prison will have to do so from a distance.

"Because the contractors are doing work now, it is advised to all who want to look at the castle to take their last look outside the walls, just as everyone else has all these years," he said.

He said after demolition is complete, the hole where the prison's basement and tunnels were located will be filled with dirt. "As of right now, there are no future plans to reuse the site," Wolf said. "When the contractors are finished, there will be a field of grass."

I think it's really a shame that it's being demolished. Architecturally, it is fantastic. I'm sure there's another school of thought that wants to erase the negative image it conjures, but I'm a nut about preservation of historical structures. It really is awe inspiring to drive next to the wall and look up to see the top so high above you. It had to give everyone on the inside a most helpless and hopeless feeling.

It really is awe inspiring to drive next to the wall and look up to see the top so high above you. It had to give everyone on the inside a most helpless and hopeless feeling.
Indeed it did. Like the wall, the castle itself was a sight to behold for the first time. I remember it clearly like it was yesterday but it has been almost 13 years now.

So much for history I suppose. :/

I would be glad to snap photos of it monday and post them if you want to see what it looks like now with it torn down and pictures of the inside when it was still up.

I would love to see a picture of it, if it wouldn't be too much trouble.

Thanks for the offer.

Well, I'm planning a visit for the last weekend of the month and I'm really sad about having to see that structure demolished. Maybe a picture will help make it not such a shock! Any pics are great!

Tear it down. to much heartache and pain associated with that place for so many thousands of people

I was sort of hoping it would be turned into a museum. I was a guest there, and it is NOT charming, but there is a lot of history.

A National Landmark Perhaps and/or Museum?

I very much remember my first sight of the Castle. It was rather forbidding, which, given the circumstances, was probably appropriate.
I had been transferred there from the Marine brig in Quantico to serve the rest of my sentence. The guards at the Quantico brig tended to have that rabid pekingese mentality, though there were several who could be reasoned with. My first impression of the system at Leavenworth was that it was a lot more laid back. I later changed that evaluation to "apathetic."
On the whole, the guards weren't all that bad. They were mostly young, and a few tried to cop attitudes, but most were OK types if you didn't give them a hard time. Without doubt, the biggest assholes in the place were the support crew. To this day, I still have malevolent thoughts about the guy they had that was posing as a doctor. "Incompetent" is the nicest thing I can think of to call him.
With him on my hate list were the mail room crew. They had a couple of people down there who seemed to enjoy tormenting inmates.
The food was...well.... I refused to eat the chili mac. I refused to eat anything not in large, easily identifiable pieces.
Well, that's my little stroll down memory lane for now.
Pictures, huh? That would be kind of cool. When I was there, they didn't let me have a camera. Funny thing, that.

I was a "guest" of the USDB from 82 to 93. I can remember seeing cracks in the castle (near the dome) you could put your whole hand through (this was in 88 when I worked in the carpentry and electric shops). It was in pretty bad shape back then. The Corps of Engineers had been measuring the sway in the building and it was amazing how much it changed each month.

Does anyone remember sitting down on 3-tier in 3 Wing watching TV and dodging concrete falling from the ceiling (about a 100 ft above)?

I drove past the DB back in the Spring of 04. It was still there along with South Gate, the car wash, and the sales store. The old feelings came back.

Personally, I would have loved to see the Castle stay as a monument to man's inhumanity to man.

Jim

PS Has anyone seen the Robert Redford movie "The Last Castle"? I swear the commandant was a perfect characterization of our fearless leader Col. McCotter. By the way, McCotter flew the Texas flag upside down when the Gov. of Texas came to visit via military aircraft. McCotter required to head up the Texas Dept. of Corrections. During McCotter's tenure at the TDC inmate on inmate violence tripled. Gov. Clements fired McCotter as his first act as Gov. McCotter went to New Mexico where he was involved in a scandal involving a $1,500 toilet for his personal residence.

pictures at www dot fortleavenworthcastle dot com

www dot fortleavenworthcastle dot com

It's November 2008 and the Castle is still there.

I once toured the old Idaho state penitentiary ... very interesting for an outsider.

I see both sides of demolishing it vs. keeping it. Money vs. memories. But too bad some historic group couldn't keep it up and sell tours to it or something. It's quite aways down the road from the new one, and the base is fairly open to the public. Well, those of us going to USDB can get there, I suppose.

but there seems to be more movement lately... who knows

with all the people going to the casinos you would think some would make the trip to see the old prison.

It's November 2008 and the Castle is still there.

I once toured the old Idaho state penitentiary ... very interesting for an outsider.

I see both sides of demolishing it vs. keeping it. Money vs. memories. But too bad some historic group couldn't keep it up and sell tours to it or something. It's quite aways down the road from the new one, and the base is fairly open to the public. Well, those of us going to USDB can get there, I suppose.

The castle was torn down. What are you talking about? It's an empty lot now.

Please show me the castle in this picture.

http://fortleavenworthcastle.com/image/demolition-2.jpg

sooo sorry i think we were talking about prison that is not being used now at fort leavenworth. i dont know what it is called. old usdb? they seem to be thinking of doing construction maybe but i dont know what.