News & Commentary

In a recent study, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas asks people to imagine a Wichita-area husband and wife raising a daughter who are living paycheck to paycheck.

The study by the ACLU of Kansas found a majority of the Wichita-area inmates were booked for nonviolent crimes and the bail policy unfairly affects low-income people who cannot afford release.

A June 2025 report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas is shining a light on the bail system in Sedgwick County.

However, private prison companies such as CoreCivic and The GeoGroup have announced contracts to operate detention centers in places including Leavenworth, Kansas, where the shuttered Midwest Regional Reception Center could be part of growing ICE’s migrant detention holdings, according to public records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in May that those detainees are held in “crowded, unsanitary conditions” and that some have attempted suicide.

The companies are working to reactivate idle detention centers including a 1,033-bed facility in Leavenworth, Kansas, owned by CoreCivic.

A coalition of local, state, and regional organizations has come together to counter this narrative. It includes Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR), based in Kansas City; the ACLU of Kansas, which previously fought to shut the prison down; the local Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; and Loud Light, representing immigrants in southwest Kansas. Together, the groups have mobilized residents, organized local faith leaders, and courted former prison guards to their campaign.

Local organizations, including the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and ACLU of Kansas were also present.

“When we say we’re worried about the dehumanization of people inside the facility, when we say that we’re worried about the exploitation of workers, when we talk about life and death circumstances for everyone inside, the answer to those questions does not count in dollar amounts,” Esmie Tseng, spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, told those gathered.