CoreCivic drops fight with Leavenworth and applies for special use permit for ICE prison

Scott Peterson (center), Leavenworth city manager, said CoreCivic and city officials spent about four months working on the company's special use permit application late last year before the company dropped the process and sought to reopen its private prison facility without the permit. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — CoreCivic gave up its fight to avoid following the city of Leavenworth’s development process and applied for a special use permit.

In a news release on its website, the city said Monday it received the application but did not say when it was filed.

“City Staff and the City’s legal team are currently reviewing the application and anticipate working with CoreCivic’s representatives on the public process,” the news release said.

Tentative public hearing dates are set for the planning commission, Feb. 2; first consideration by the Leavenworth City Commission, Feb. 24; and second consideration by the city commission, March 10. Hearings are broadcast on the city’s YouTube channel.

The city of Leavenworth and CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based private prison company, have been fighting in court since early this year over whether CoreCivic needed to follow the city’s special use permit process.

The company in September signed a contract with U.S. Immigration and Custums Enforcement valued at $60 million a year to house immigrant detainees at its Leavenworth facility, but the agreement doesn’t take effect until legal issues are resolved. A turning point in the court cases seemed to come when CoreCivic lost a legal battle last week in which it asked a judge to allow it to begin holding prisoners. At the time, a CoreCivic spokesman indicated the company was considering all paths to move forward, including bowing to the city’s demands that it follow the permit process.

Scott Peterson, Leavenworth city manager, said after the court loss that the city is willing to work on the special permitting process with CoreCivic. The company had been four months into the process when it decided to withdraw, he said.

“We’d had significant conversations, met with them multiple times,” Peterson said, adding that he and his assistant had toured the facility. “We were prepared to put together a packet for presentation to the planning commission, so we were ready to go.”

But CoreCivic decided not to continue the permit process and instead sought to reopen the facility without getting the permit.