Leavenworth

I heard Kansas Senator Sam Brownback on the radio this morning discussing his disinterest with having "detainees" moved from Guantanimo to Fort Leavenworth, KS.

I find this view totally ludicrous.

Having grown up within a 30 minute drive of Leavenworth, I've been more than mildly aware that it is in some ways the premiere holding facility for the U.S. government's convicts. As in, you cross the FBI, you go to Leavenworth. It's mentioned in movies for a reason.

However, there is some confusion, because there are two prisons at Leavenworth. The first is the maximum security facility for military prisoners. The second, which is the current home of characters like Michael Vick, is the United States Penitentiary, which is a medium security facility (as of 2005, formerly high/maximum) that currently holds ~1900 prisoners.

The problem I have with the "concerns" that detainees be moved to Leavenworth is that it ignores the 1900 people already there. If you are dangerous enough to go to Leavenworth...then you probably are a threat to the citizens of the United States and must not be allowed to wander free. How is that any different than the definition of the detainees? Why do Kansas officials make it sound like terrorists will be wandering the streets of Kansas City?


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