United States Disciplinary Barracks The United States Disciplinary Barracks ( or USDB , popularly known as Leavenworth , or the DB ) is a military prison located on Fort Leavenworth , a United States Army post in Kansas . It is one of three major prisons built on Fort Leavenworth property , the others being the federal United States Penitentiary , Leavenworth , four miles ( 6 km ) to the south , and the military Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility , which opened on 5 October 2010 . It reports to the United States Army Corrections Command and its commandant usually holds the rank of Colonel . The USDB is the U . S . military ' s only maximum - security facility and houses male service members convicted at court - martial for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice . Only enlisted prisoners with sentences over ten years , commissioned officers , and prisoners convicted of offenses related to national security are confined to the USDB . Enlisted prisoners with sentences under ten years are housed in smaller facilities , such as the nearby Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility or the United States Naval Consolidated Brig at Chesapeake , Virginia . Corrections personnel at the prison are Army Corrections Specialists ( MOS 31E ) trained at the U . S . Army Military Police school located at Fort Leonard Wood , Missouri , as well as Marine and Air Force corrections personnel . First facility . Originally known as the United States Military Prison , the USDB was established by Act of Congress in 1874 . Prisoners were used for the bulk of the construction , which began in 1875 and was completed in 1921 . The facility was able to house up to 1 , 500 prisoners . From 1895 until 1903 , prisoners from the USDB were used to construct the nearby United States Penitentiary , Leavenworth until around 400 federal prisoners were moved there to complete the work . Although work on the two prisons continued at about the same time and they share the same design of a central dome - topped building , the two prisons reflect dramatically different prison concepts . The original USDB followed the Pennsylvania plan modeling on a layout of the Eastern State Penitentiary where cell blocks radiated out from a central structure . Individual cells were relatively isolated . In contrast , the civilian prison is modeled on the Auburn Correctional Facility in New York reflected a newer concept where prisoners were housed in a large rectangular building where there was a certain amount of communal living . The original USDB was Fort Leavenworth ' s biggest and tallest building sitting on top of a hill at the corner of McPherson Avenue and Scott Avenue overlooking the Missouri River . The largest buildings of the original barracks ( " The Castle " ) were torn down in 2004 . The old domed building was nicknamed " Little Top " in contrast to the domed federal prison two and a half miles ( 3 km ) south which was nicknamed the " Big Top . " . The walls and 10 of the buildings in the original location remain — including Pope Hall — have been converted or are in the process of being converted to other uses at the Fort . The prison ' s original commandant ' s house still remains . The original prison was . Its walls were 16 to high . Gail Dillon of the Airman magazine said in 2002 that " A visitor would immediately notice the medieval ambiance of this institution – the well - worn native stone and brick walls constructed by long - forgotten inmates when " hard labor " meant exactly that – have witnessed thousands of inmates ' prayers , curses , and pleas over the past 128 years " and that entering the facility was " like stepping back in time or suddenly being part of a kitschy movie set about a prison bust . " Current facility . A new state - of - the - art , 515 - bed , USDB became operational in September 2002 , replacing the old stone wall and brick castle . The new barracks opened at a cost of $ 67 . 8 million and is about a mile north of the original barracks . It is on on the site of the former USDB Farm Colony and is enclosed by two separate high fences . There are three housing units each of which can accommodate up to 142 . The units described as " pods " are two - tiered triangular shaped domiciles . The cells in the new facility have solid doors and a window . There are no bars . The new facility is said to be much quieter than the old one and is preferred by inmates . Colonel Colleen L . McGuire , the first female commandant of the USDB , said in 2002 that the new facility is " much more efficient in design and layout – much brighter and lighter . " The new prison reflects current prison design of smaller low - rise separate buildings where prisoners can be more easily isolated from the general population . In 2009 , the Barracks along with the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility in Michigan were being considered for relocation of 220 prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp . Kansas officials including both U . S . Senators have objected to the transfer with Pat Roberts saying the transfer would require that the 2 , 000 privately owned acres around the fort would need to be acquired by the use of eminent domain to establish a stand - off zone because the prison is on the perimeter of the fort . Outside Accreditation . The USDB has continuously been accredited from the American Correctional Association ( ACA ) since 1988 . In 2012 the facility received a 100 % rating and the accolades of the rating team . Three independent evaluators visited the prison facilities to check on more than 500 standards , including mental health services , safety issues and other aspects of the facility related to humane treatment of inmates . The USDB received a top rating in all of the standards despite having a portion of its staffing deployed to Iraq to oversee detention operations there . Staffing . The USDB is currently staffed by members of the 15th Military Police Brigade . Many soldiers have a designated military occupational specialty 31E , corrections specialists . They are under Army Corrections Command , which was activated in Washington , D . C . in 2007 under the Provost Marshal General . Cemetery . Deceased prisoners who are not claimed by their family members are buried near the original USDB . There were 300 graves dating from between approximately 1894 and 1957 , 56 of which are unmarked and 14 more that belong to German prisoners of war executed for the murder of fellow POWs . Before the war with Germany ended , it was feared that American and British prisoners who had killed collaborators in their prison camps would be executed as well . That fear ended when Germany surrendered in May 1945 . The executions at Fort Leavenworth were carried out in three groups : Five on July 10 , two on July 14 and seven on Aug . 25 , all in 1945 . Capital punishment . The USDB houses the U . S . military ' s male death row inmates . Since 1945 , there have been 21 executions at the USDB , including fourteen German prisoners of war executed in 1945 for murder . The last execution by the U . S . Military was the hanging of Army PFC John A . Bennett , on April 13 , 1961 , for the rape and attempted murder of an 11 - year - old Austrian girl . Bennett ' s execution took place four years after it was approved by President Dwight D . Eisenhower and then his successor President John F . Kennedy stayed the execution order after an appeal to him from the Austrian victim and her parents for the African American soldier . All executions at the USDB thus far have been by hanging , but lethal injection has been specified as the military ' s current mode of execution . , there are six inmates on death row at the USDB , the most recent addition being Nidal Hasan , sentenced to death on 28 August 2013 . Andrew P . Witt is currently the only Air Force member on the USDB death row . The execution of Army PVT Ronald A . Gray , who has been on military death row since 1988 , was approved by President George W . Bush on July 28 , 2008 . Gray was convicted of the rape , two murders and an attempted murder of three women , two of them Army soldiers and the third a civilian taxi driver whose body was found on the post at Fort Bragg . On 26 November 2008 , a federal judge granted Gray a stay of execution to allow time for further appeals . Within the prison , Death Row is located in an isolated corridor away from other inmates .