TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An audit says a private prison company was slow to address understaffing at a federal detention center in Kansas and once hid triple-bunking in two-person cells.
The report from the U.S. Justice Department’s inspector general also said the federal Marshals Service failed to provide adequate oversight for its Leavenworth Detention Center.
The 1,033-bed center operated by Nashville-based CoreCivic is used mainly to house defendants awaiting federal criminal trials. CoreCivic was formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America.
The audit said the Leavenworth Detention Center closed some security posts in 2014 and 2015 because of staffing problems. The report also said that in 2011 the center removed beds from cells to hide triple-bunking before an American Correctional Association audit.
CoreCivic and the Marshals Service said in written responses that they have taken steps to address issues in the audit.