Inmates Sue to Fix Up Derelict Military Prison

WASHINGTON — The aging military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., is crumbling around its inmates, prisoners allege in a lawsuit.

Chunks of plaster have struck at least two inmates on the head, their lawyer, Denver attorney Alison Ruttenberg, said. And two of Leavenworth’s commanding officers have warned of deteriorating conditions, according to Army memorandums obtained by the inmates.

“You feel like the ceilings could come down at any time,” said Ruttenberg, adding that she had been hit in the head by falling plaster. “No one expects prison to be comfortable, but it has to be safe.”

Then-commanding officer Lt. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner wrote in 1992 that the walls, roof and floor slabs had split and cracked, and exterior walls had separated from interior floor slabs throughout. “The deterioration of structural members will continue and will likely result in catastrophic failure in 10 years,” Shoffner said.

Ft. Leavenworth is the military’s only maximum-security prison and home to the military’s death row. It houses about 1,100 inmates, including enlisted personnel from all services who are sentenced to five years or more, and all officers, regardless of sentence.

A structural analysis of the prison disclosed “shocking deficiencies in the steel, concrete and masonry structure,” Shoffner said. The 19th-century fortress-like design was intended only to prevent escape and discourages efforts at rehabilitation, he said.

Former commanding officer Lt. Gen. John E. Miller warned in March that without construction of a new prison, “structural deterioration of the present facility will continue, resulting in possible structural failure” that could injure or kill guards and inmates.

Leavenworth officials have had plans for a new 512-bed facility since 1991. The main structure was completed in the 1920s, but parts of the prison date to the 19th century.

“The bricks just fall off the wall,” said Robert Walker, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, logistics and environment, during a May 8 hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. Congress is expected to vote this year for $63 million for the new prison.

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, the prisoners ask that they be transferred to another facility or that the Defense Department be ordered to make immediate major repairs.

Janet Wray, a prison spokeswoman, said structural surveys begun at least three years ago show that deterioration has subsided.