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Federal Prisons in Kansas

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By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

Federal prisons in Kansas at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates one institution in Kansas, FCI Leavenworth, which has a satellite camp and holds 1,550 people as of September 2026. It belongs to the Bureau’s North Central Region, run from an office in Kansas City, Kansas.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FCI LeavenworthFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,366Camp: 184LeavenworthDistrict of Kansas
Total1 institution1,366184
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

The name in that table changed recently. On April 4, 2024 the Bureau announced approved name changes for seven of its facilities, six of them penitentiaries, and USP Leavenworth became FCI Leavenworth. The roster now carries a medium-security federal correctional institution and holds no record under the old name. The 1903 building is unchanged and only the designation moved, which is why the walls and most of the internet still say penitentiary.

A second Leavenworth facility is not on that table and does not belong on it. The privately operated detention center in the same city has never been a Bureau institution. Its operator, CoreCivic, has reopened it as the Midwest Regional Reception Center, holding people for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

How many federal prisons are in Kansas?

One. The Bureau of Prisons roster carries a single Kansas entry, and the roster is what this page counts from. The state has no penitentiary, no medical center and no stand-alone detention center. Its one institution is FCI Leavenworth, medium security for men, with a minimum-security satellite camp beside it. The camp sits inside Leavenworth’s row rather than standing as a prison of its own, so the count is one while the population covers two compounds. See our guide to security levels and the Bureau of Prisons directory.

What makes the place unusual for a medium is the mix inside it. Four groups share the compound: men serving sentences, men awaiting trial, men in holdover status, and men detained for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which lists the institution among its own detention facilities. The Bureau’s paperwork shows the split — a separate pretrial commissary order form, and a visiting supplement whose first section is headed Pretrial/Holdover/Detainee Procedures.

Two things a reader looking for a list will not find. The roster records Leavenworth as holding men, so no federal prison in Kansas holds women; our guide to women’s federal prisons sets out where they go instead. And no Kansas institution appears in the Bureau’s closure announcement of July 1, 2026, so this page carries no closures section.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Kansas?

The North Central Regional Office, which is itself in Kansas. Leavenworth reports through that region, whose office sits in Kansas City, Kansas, and which reaches nine states across the middle of the country.

The region is the second desk a complaint lands on. Program Statement 1330.18 puts it at pp. 6–7: “An inmate who is not satisfied with the Warden’s response may submit an Appeal on the appropriate form (BP-10) to the appropriate Regional Director within 20 calendar days of the date the Warden signed the response.” The same statement, reprinting 28 C.F.R. § 542.14(b) at p. 5, allows slack on that clock: “Where the inmate demonstrates a valid reason for delay, an extension in filing time may be allowed.” The step before it is filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Kansas?

One office, RRM Kansas City, and it is in the state too. Kansas is a single federal judicial district: 28 U.S.C. § 96 makes the state one district and lists Leavenworth among the cities where that court sits. That also settles a gap in the Bureau’s records, because the facility page prints no judicial-district line and there is only one district it could be. RRM Kansas City’s Bureau page prints its districts as bare state names — Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska — so the whole state falls to it and no other reentry office lists any part of Kansas.

Which office takes a case turns on where the person is going, not on where the prison stands. Program Statement 7310.04 tells the Warden, where there is significant doubt about a referral, to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district” (at p. 12). A man at Leavenworth going home to Omaha is an RRM Kansas City matter too, because that office prints Nebraska. Program Statement 5325.09 provides at p. 8 that “Inmates will be enrolled in the RPP between 18 and 24 months prior to their institution departure date to the community.” See federal halfway houses.

How do I find, write to, visit or send money to someone in a Kansas federal prison?

Start with the inmate locator, which searches the whole federal system, so you need not know that Kansas has only the one prison. A name search needs a first and a last name; a register number works alone.

Mail goes to the address block the institution publishes, and Leavenworth has more than one: the camp and the institution do not share a block. Copy it exactly, register number included. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on Leavenworth’s own supplement rather than a national timetable, and that supplement sets out separate procedures for pretrial, holdover and detainee visits, so which day a visit falls on can depend on why the person is there. Read the facility page before traveling; see visitation.

Money moves on national channels: the lockbox by mail, Western Union Quick Collect and MoneyGram. Program Statement 4500.13 states at p. 79 that “Ordinarily, funds sent to an inmate via the Western Union Quick Collect/MoneyGram Program are posted to the inmate’s account within two hours of the transfer,” while the Bureau’s own guidance on sending money gives two to four hours for the same window; transfers after 9:00 p.m. EST post the following morning. See sending money.

How many federal prisons does the Bureau of Prisons run in Kansas?

One. FCI Leavenworth is the only institution on the Bureau’s roster in the state: a medium-security correctional institution for men, with a minimum-security satellite camp attached, which is not counted as a prison of its own. Kansas has no penitentiary and no federal detention center.

What is the largest federal prison in Kansas by population?

FCI Leavenworth, because it is the only one. The Bureau counted 1,366 people at the institution and 184 at its satellite camp as of September 2026, which is 1,550 between them. Kansas has one federal prison rather than a ranking, so the answer holds however the camp is counted.

Is there a United States Penitentiary in Kansas?

Not any more. Leavenworth was a penitentiary for most of a century, but the Bureau announced approved name changes for seven facilities on April 4, 2024, and USP Leavenworth became FCI Leavenworth. The roster records a medium-security institution, and nothing survives under the old name.

Is the Leavenworth Detention Center a federal prison?

No. The privately run detention center in the same city has never been a Bureau of Prisons institution and appears on no Bureau roster. Its operator, CoreCivic, reopened it as the Midwest Regional Reception Center, holding people for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nobody there carries a Bureau register number.

How do I look up someone held in a Kansas federal prison?

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which covers every federal institution rather than one state. Search by register number, or by name — a name search needs a first and a last name, and it misses hyphenated surnames, so try each part. The screen then names the facility and its type.

Which regional office covers Kansas’s federal prisons?

The North Central Regional Office, which the Bureau runs from Kansas City, Kansas, and which covers institutions in eight other states as well. To a family it matters as the second step of the remedy process: an appeal from a Warden’s answer goes on a BP-10 form to the Regional Director.

Which reentry office handles halfway-house placement for someone releasing to Kansas?

RRM Kansas City. That office’s Bureau page prints its judicial districts as bare state names — Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska — so the whole District of Kansas falls to it, and no other reentry office lists any part of the state. Placement follows the release district.

Can someone ask to be designated to a federal prison in Kansas?

Anyone can ask, and a sentencing judge can recommend, but the choice belongs to the Bureau. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) it designates the place of imprisonment and, subject to bed availability and security designation, places the person “in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence.”

How can a federal defense firm help a family with someone in a Kansas federal prison?

Three problems recur at the state’s one institution, all visible in its own records. Getting to the camp: residential drug treatment runs on the camp side of the fence, so a man inside who needs it needs a transfer, and a Public Safety Factor can close that door — the kind of problems we work on inside. Immigration detention inside a Bureau prison: a man held here for ICE cannot be visited without Bureau clearance. And program access drives First Step Act time credit disputes, which is early release work.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and post-conviction firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, practicing nationwide. Mentions of Kansas places on this page do not imply an office or a lawyer there.

Call 843-620-1100 or contact us to arrange a paid one-hour consultation about a specific situation. Calls are answered 24 hours a day.

Sources and currency

Bureau of Prisons documents

Court records and statutes

News and other sources

Sources reviewed September 2026.

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026

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