I used to go up to USP Leavenworth at least once a week for over a year in conjunction with KU's Law School's Paul Wilson's Defender Project. We'd work on appeals for prisoners who qualified. I was both an intern in the clinical program and a student supervisor so I was a semi-frequent visitor to the Big House and Lansing for more than a year. I was also involved with NALSA (Native American Law Student Association) and we did some work (under the supervision of a licensed attorney) for American Indian prisoners. I met some pretty interesting guys like Leonard Peltier and
Gabe Antelope. I also met Gabe's nephew and co-defendant Bill Davison. There was really nothing we could do for these three. But for the others we did what we could. Mostly we were able to hook up some of their family members with reputable pro bono lawyers back home to take care of some lingering legal issues or help them with wills.
When I met with clients and potential clients I'd meet them in the visitor's room, which was nothing but two rows of small tables. backed wooden benches on either side and chairs. The prisoners sat along the outside walls on the long benches and the visitors sat on moveable chairs. They'd conduct marriage ceremonies in that room too. I saw several marriages when I was there. When I met with the Indian prisoners I'd go into the prison itself. Sometimes they'd let us use classrooms. Those always freaked me out. They were downstairs and up several hallways. Sometimes they'd let us use the auditorium (the room where, so the guards liked to remind me, the last prison riot started). It's one thing being in the visiting room with guards but it's another thing to be the only woman in an enclosed room, near the heart of the prison with one guard (standing in the back of the room near the drop hole & so he can bolt if need be) and forty to fifty prisoners milling about the room. I was more than a little intimidated the first time I was taken inside and dropped in the middle of all of them but, they always treated me with a lot of respect and I treated them the same way. We did have a number of student volunteers that would freak out right before or right after their first visit and would never go back.
I was also involved with a group that would hold yearly pow-wows inside Leavenworth for the Indian prisoners. We'd recruit dancers, drummers, singers and contact prisoners' families (and find places for them to stay) to go in for them. The staff would let us in with our native accoutrements and drums, but believe me, every one was screened and all the dressings were checked out. For a lot of the prisoners, it was one of the few times that they got to see some family members. The pow-wows would last for hours and while they were carefully watched, the guards were always pretty cool about letting us conduct the pow-wow without interference. We also helped get clearances for tribal elders and religious leaders (both traditional and others) so they could make visits.
Come to think of it, I've been in USP Leavenworth quite a bit. I'd never really thought about it before. The only other place I've been to besides the prisons (I also had clients in the minimum security facility next door to USP Leavenworth) was the little shopping center near the prison. It was my turn-off to go to the pens. I'd stop there for gas and snacks, otherwise I didn't hang around the area much.
My cousin teaches school in Leavenworth (or nearby, I've never been quite sure). She says most of her students are children from those stationed at Ft. Leavenworth.
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