TOPEKA, KANSAS — LOCAL DINING & COMMUNITY

There are restaurants you visit because they’re convenient. There are restaurants you visit because someone told you they were good. And then there are restaurants you keep trying to get into because you already know exactly what you’re missing.

Olive Cafe, now located near 17th and Fairlawn in Topeka, falls squarely into that third category.

We first discovered Olive Cafe back when it was downtown. And ever since its reopening, we’ve been trying to make our way back.

The problem? Every time we tried, the place was packed.

And, of course, we know why.

The food.

It’s always been about the food.

A restaurant worth waiting for

Some restaurants spend a fortune trying to convince you that they’re worth visiting. Others simply open their doors, turn on the kitchen lights, and let the food do the talking.

Olive Cafe has always struck us as the latter.

There’s something particularly satisfying about returning to a restaurant you enjoyed years ago and finding that the reason you loved it in the first place hasn’t changed.

A new location might bring new surroundings, a different dining room, and a fresh chapter in the restaurant’s history. But what brings people through the door, and keeps them coming back, is what happens in the kitchen.

For Olive Cafe, that’s the heart of the story.

We can talk about the crowds, the excitement surrounding the reopening, and how difficult it has been to find a time to stop in. But none of that matters quite as much as the experience of sitting down to a meal you have been looking forward to for months.

And when a restaurant has people willing to keep trying until they can get a table, that’s a pretty good indication that it’s doing something right.

And then there’s Tony

As much as we enjoy talking about great food, there’s another reason Olive Cafe deserves a little attention.

His name is Tony.

Tony owns Olive Cafe. He also owns Tony’s gas station on Sixth Street.

And if you want to understand what kind of person Tony is, consider this: he finds the idea of charging people for drinking water morally repugnant.

Not inconvenient. Not bad for business.

Morally repugnant.

Think about that for a moment.

In a world where practically everything has a price tag, where a bottle of water can become another opportunity to squeeze a few dollars out of somebody, Tony sees something fundamentally different.

Water is a basic human necessity. And to Tony, apparently, that means something.

But that’s not the only example.

At his gas station on Sixth Street, Tony also keeps Narcan available for his customers.

Narcan is a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. It can save someone’s life.

And Tony makes sure it’s there.

Not because a gas station is a hospital. Not because he’s required to solve every problem in the community. But because he recognizes that sometimes the difference between life and death is simply having the right thing available when somebody needs it.

There’s something profoundly decent about that.

You don’t have to know the person who might need help. You don’t have to agree with every decision they’ve ever made. You don’t even have to understand how they ended up in that situation.

You just have to recognize that their life matters.

Tony gets that.

There are those who talk a big game, and there are those who just do it

I want to take a moment here to acknowledge someone else.

Mark Melton, from Dallas, Texas.

Since meeting Mark and his wife, I’ve found myself thinking about a particular distinction between the people who spend their time talking about making a difference and the people who simply get up every morning and make one.

As Mark put it:

There are those who talk a big game, and there are those who just do it.

It’s a simple observation, but one that has stayed with me.

And the more I think about it, the more I realize that recognizing those same qualities in the people around us is a pretty good place to start.

We have plenty of people in Topeka who work quietly, without fanfare, to make this a better place to live.

They don’t necessarily have foundations named after them. They don’t hold press conferences every time they help someone. They don’t need a camera crew following them around while they do something decent.

They just do it.

They open their businesses. They employ their neighbors. They feed people. They look out for someone who might be having the worst day of their life.

And sometimes, they make sure a person can get a glass of water without reaching for their wallet.

That’s the kind of thing that deserves recognition.

Good food brings us together. Good people make us a community.

There’s a reason we love writing about locally owned restaurants.

Yes, we love the food. We love finding a great meal, discovering a new favorite, and sharing those experiences with our readers.

But local restaurants are also part of the fabric of a city.

They’re where families gather, where friends catch up, where business gets discussed over lunch, and where the people behind the counter become familiar faces.

When you support a locally owned restaurant, you’re supporting the people who have invested their time, their money, and a substantial part of their lives into making something work right here in Topeka.

And every once in a while, you discover that the person behind that restaurant is doing a whole lot more for the community than simply serving a good meal.

That’s worth talking about, too.

Olive Cafe is the kind of place we keep coming back to because of the food.

Tony is the kind of person we’re glad to have in Topeka because of everything else.

And maybe that’s the point.

We spend an awful lot of time talking about what our city needs, what it could become, and who ought to be doing something about it.

Meanwhile, there are people like Tony who are already doing their part.

So here’s to Olive Cafe. Here’s to a restaurant that keeps people coming back. And here’s to Tony, who reminds us that being a great Topekan doesn’t necessarily require grand gestures.

Sometimes it just requires a good meal, a glass of water, and the willingness to look out for your neighbors.

Tony is the man. And Topeka is a better place for having people like him in it.

They decide to jump into their old RV for a final adventure to head from Maine to Washington State. The couple has some unfinished business to tend to. Along the way they meet many interesting characters. Some of them are just bat shit crazy to the point of the couple wanting to avoid them. They also meet some lovely people who respect them and hold them up to be elders in the LGBT community.

What makes this book so special is all the LGBT (using the same acronym as the  characters in the book used) history woven into the story. To see a gay male couple that has been together since the 80s is extremely rare. The government, mainly the Reagan administration, mishandled the AIDS epidemic of the 80s. Many gay men of that time died. It also created a homophobic hysteria.

One historical fact was how GLBT used to be the common acronym, but it became LGBT as “an honor bestowed upon lesbians, who were some of the only people to stay with the dying men.” 

“We put them first because they put us first. Never forget that. When we are abandoned by the world, it was the women from our community who held our hands as we passed.”

I also enjoyed reading about the book’s take on the Stonewall event. Similar events happened in California before that. At one time, gays and gay couples were not allowed to adopt children. In addition to evolving, our society had so many kids waiting to be adopted (and still do). Thus those restrictions eventually disappeared.

Reading about Don and Rodney’s experience with a troubled youth they adopted was both beautiful and heartbreaking. While this book is about the end of the world and that alone is terrifying, I found the love between Don and Rodney to have burned so bright that it gave beauty to this event. 

I would recommend the book to any adult who loves reading apocalyptic fiction, romance, and road trip stories. The author provided trigger warnings regarding suicide and death. I also highly recommend this for anyone curious about how LGBT relationships work. Learning about all the challenges Don and Rodney faced over their decades together and all the joy and pain they shared makes you realize their relationship isn’t any lesser than heterosexual relationships.

TOPEKA, Kan. — A Washburn University professor with three recently published books will share his work with readers at a public event Thursday, Sept. 17.

Andrew Farkas, an associate professor of creative writing, will read excerpts at 4 p.m. in Carole Chapel on the Washburn campus. Light refreshments will be served, according to the university’s announcement.

The three books take different routes through questions about identity, memory and the stories people tell themselves.

Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been?: Stories is a fiction collection that plays with how people define who they are. Its characters include an insurance salesman who insists he is Napoleon and a detective searching for someone he cannot describe.

In The Ancient Mysteries of Las Vegas, Farkas turns to theater. The play follows two characters through shifting versions of a Las Vegas journey, leaving readers to question what happened, what was imagined and what might be remembered incorrectly.

His other new collection, Movies Are Fine for a Bright Boy Like You: Fictions, finds stories in the margins of film. Security guards, movie extras and even the people carrying a pane of glass across a street in a chase scene get their turn in the spotlight.

Farkas has taught at Washburn since 2017. He has published four earlier books, along with short stories and essays, and edits the literary journal Always Crashing. In Washburn’s announcement, he described seeking out writing communities even though the work of writing is often done alone. Teaching, he said, helps create that sense of community for students, too.

Thursday’s reading offers Topeka readers a chance to hear how one local writer moves among short fiction, film-inspired stories and theater—and to encounter the work in the voice of the person who wrote it.

Event details: Reading with Andrew Farkas, 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, at Carole Chapel, Washburn University, Topeka. The public is invited. More information is available from Washburn University

“Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters—Then and Now” by Clay Wirestone is an excellent book dropping on September 29, 2026. Even if you don’t live in Kansas or have a strong connection to the state, this book is a must read! 

The research is incredible! Even though I’ve obtained three graduate degrees from various universities in Kansas, Wirestone digs up stuff I’ve never known about. It is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read this year. It is also one of the best Kansas and news-related books I’ve ever read!

While it is like drinking water from a firehouse, it also leaves you wanting more, and that more is available! Wirestone shares pictures of buildings that are still standing, and information from articles, interviews, and podcasts the reader can dig up. He even gives you a section called “Further Reading.” In addition to accessing these resources and learning more about the people mentioned in “Opinionated,” I want to hit the road and visit some of the places described! 

The book starts with explaining how Kansas held a place of unique importance leading up to the Civil War. It was an environment where abolitionists and pro-slavery forces had their own newspapers and were often engaged in a battle of words. “A flabbergasting 733 newspapers were being published.” 

Kansas was the center of the country. Settlers on both sides of the issue moved into Kansas to help change the balance of slavery issue. That tradition of publishing commentary continued into the next century.

“Opinionated” provides condensed biographies for a dozen historical Kansas editorial writers from the 1920s through 1970s in various cities and towns. This time period can easily be considered the golden age of newspapers. As an example, Colorado Springs, my hometown had two daily newspapers. In the 80s after that golden age, one of those disappeared.  

In between those biographies for the golden age, Wirestone provides insights into how things have changed and does an excellent job of connecting the past with the present. “But we live in a compressed age, one in which pithy social media posts and 20-second video blasts dominate the conversation. Have courage to take the time and space needed for a mature, nuanced argument.”

The book discusses the importance of local opinion writers and how they gave small towns the attention they needed to prevent them from slowly losing “their vitality” and proving they matter. Local papers provide lots of support. Residents feel like they have a champion. They stay hopeful and feel like things are getting accomplished. They feel part of something larger than themselves! 

In his chapter on Jack Harris of Hutchinson, Wirestone discusses the importance of having local staff and the problems with corporate news ownership. In 2023, the Hutchinson News ran a front-page story about Hutchinson senior citizens, except these were seniors in Hutchinson, Minnesota! The hedge fund ownership based in New York was out of touch with the local community.

Parts of the book made me nostalgic for the old days of staffed newsrooms and the smell of newsprint in each town. Thankfully, the future of local newspapers may not be so bleak. The Hutchinson, Kansas story helped motivate a high school student to start an online newspaper for the community that provided quality editorials and local news.This might be the wave of the future and a way to keep the community connected.

One of my eye-opening chapters was African American journalist Nick Chiles of Topeka. I’ve studied a lot about black history in the area, and was surprised to learn material I missed about Chiles. History teacher Sonja Czarnecki unearthed a lot of great material about him. I’m planning to read her article about him in the journal Kansas History. 

I also loved Wirestone’s commentary and research about how this country is where it is politically. He discusses the divide between the urban and rural areas and offers many examples of how rural communities evolved politically. After World War II, the population shifted even more from rural areas to urban centers. Rural areas then had a lot of respect for business owners who stayed and created jobs. This helped alter the community’s politics, as business owners encouraged the community to “support anti-union laws and tax policies generous to businesses.” 

Wirestone talks about the difficulty of communicating today when folks are so entrenched in their side of the political spectrum. He explains how newspaper commentary can become a two-way interaction with the community. They can shape each other! At the same time the community can change, so can the editorial views. If we can open up that kind of dialogue again, maybe more of us would look out for the common good.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Kansas history. This is also a great book for those interested in journalism and media history. The advice for future editorial writers is excellent. If you’re interested in the history and evolution of editorial writing or media history, this is the book! 

TOPEKA, Kan. — Topeka-area writers will take center stage during a new downtown event designed to connect local authors directly with the people who read their work.

Write On Topeka is scheduled for noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at Cosmos Court, 909 S. Kansas Ave.

The free, family-friendly showcase will bring together writers from Topeka and surrounding communities. Visitors will be able to meet participating authors, learn about their work and purchase signed copies of their books.

The event gives readers an opportunity to discover new voices without traveling to a major literary festival or waiting for a nationally touring author to visit the city.

It also provides local writers with something that can be difficult for independent and emerging authors to find: a public space where they can introduce their work, speak directly with readers and become more visible within their own community.

While Topeka’s visual artists, musicians and performers are regularly featured through festivals, gallery walks and concerts, the city’s literary community is often less visible. Write On Topeka aims to give those writers a dedicated place in the local cultural calendar.

The showcase could include authors working across a variety of genres, potentially giving visitors the chance to browse fiction, poetry, history, memoirs, children’s books and other locally written work in one setting.

Organizers are still inviting Topeka-area writers to participate as featured authors. Sponsorship opportunities are also available for businesses and organizations interested in supporting the event.

Admission is free, and food and drinks will be available for purchase at Cosmos Court during the showcase.

The downtown location may also help introduce authors to readers who would not ordinarily attend a formal book signing. Instead of placing the event inside a bookstore or academic setting, organizers are creating a casual gathering where families and curious visitors can meet writers without feeling as though they need to arrive already familiar with their work.

Write On Topeka is being promoted by GrubNPubs.com, a local guide focused on food, drinks and entertainment in the Topeka area.

The event will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at Cosmos Court, 909 S. Kansas Ave. It is free and open to the public.

Authors and potential sponsors interested in participating can contact the organizers through Cosmos Court.

Additional details are available through the official Visit Topeka event listing.

TOPEKA, Kan. — One of Topeka’s longstanding fall traditions will celebrate its 45th anniversary when Cider Days returns to the Stormont Vail Events Center in September.

The 45th annual Cider Days Fall Market will take place Saturday, Sept. 19, and Sunday, Sept. 20, inside and around Exhibition Hall at 1 Expocentre Drive.

The market will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Organizers say this year’s event will feature more than 250 creators, makers, artisans, pickers and other vendors. Shoppers can expect handmade products, artwork, home décor, clothing, gifts, specialty foods and other items from businesses throughout the region.

Cider Days has grown from a local seasonal gathering into one of the area’s largest fall markets. The event combines shopping with food, demonstrations and activities designed for the entire family.

Scheduled attractions include artisan demonstrations, live entertainment, a petting zoo, balloon artists, face painting, inflatables and photo opportunities. A pie-baking contest is also planned.

Food vendors will be stationed around the event, and Cider Days’ signature apple-cider slushes and kettle corn will return for the anniversary celebration.

The mix of vendors and activities allows visitors to shop while children participate in the event’s family-oriented attractions. Booths will be located both inside Exhibition Hall and in outdoor areas surrounding the building.

The celebration comes as Cider Days reaches a milestone few community events achieve. After 45 years, the market has become a familiar part of the fall calendar for generations of Topeka families.

The event also provides an opportunity for small businesses, independent makers and regional artists to introduce their products to thousands of shoppers during one weekend.

Cider Days will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at the Stormont Vail Events Center.

Additional information is available through the official Cider Days website.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Two of the most influential musicians in jazz history will be celebrated in Topeka during a special concert marking the 100th anniversary of their births.

The Miles Davis and John Coltrane Tribute is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, at the Topeka Performing Arts Center, 214 SE Eighth Ave.

Presented by the Topeka Jazz Workshop, the concert will feature a quintet of Kansas City-area musicians led by bassist Kurt Morrow. The group will perform music inspired by Davis and Coltrane and explore the influence both musicians continue to have on jazz.

Davis and Coltrane were both born in 1926 and became two of the defining figures of 20th-century music.

Davis, a trumpeter, bandleader and composer, repeatedly reshaped jazz throughout his career. His work moved through bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz and eventually jazz fusion. His landmark recordings include Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew and Sketches of Spain.

Coltrane emerged as one of the most important saxophonists of his generation. Known for his technical ability and constant musical exploration, he expanded the harmonic and spiritual possibilities of jazz through recordings including Giant Steps, My Favorite Things and A Love Supreme.

The musicians’ careers famously intersected when Coltrane joined Davis’ celebrated quintet in the 1950s. Their work together helped produce some of the most important recordings in jazz, including Davis’ 1959 album Kind of Blue.

Although their musical paths later separated, both artists continued pushing jazz in new directions. Davis became known for repeatedly reinventing his sound, while Coltrane pursued increasingly experimental and spiritually focused music.

The Topeka tribute will highlight what organizers describe as Davis’ cool, searching lyricism and Coltrane’s soaring intensity. The performance will also celebrate the sense of possibility and innovation the two musicians brought to American music.

The concert opens the Topeka Jazz Workshop’s 2026 season, which includes additional performances at TPAC throughout the fall.

Tickets are listed at $35 before online fees. Additional information and tickets are available through the Topeka Jazz Workshop and the Topeka Performing Arts Center.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Internationally recognized Christian artists will take the stage in downtown Topeka this fall for a free concert celebrating music, community and the city’s place in religious history.

Open Skies Topeka is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Evergy Plaza, 630 S. Kansas Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

The concert will feature Bethel Music with Jenn Johnson and Dove Award-winning Christian hip-hop artist KB. Topeka native and boxer John Cantrell is also scheduled to appear and share his personal testimony.

Organizers describe Open Skies as an evening of worship, hope and community intended to bring together people from different churches and Christian traditions. Those who do not identify with a particular faith tradition are also invited to attend.

“Come for the music, come with questions, come to worship or simply come experience the night with your community,” AIM 5 Foundation founder Cody Foster said in the event announcement.

Bethel Music has become one of the most prominent organizations in contemporary worship music. Its catalog includes widely performed songs such as “Goodness of God,” “Raise a Hallelujah,” “It Is Well” and “Reckless Love.”

KB is a rapper, pastor and author whose albums have reached the top of Billboard’s Christian Albums chart. His work combines hip-hop performances with messages focused on faith, purpose and hope.

The concert also arrives during the 125th anniversary of the 1901 Topeka Outpouring, an event widely associated with the beginnings of the modern Pentecostal movement.

Events at Charles Parham’s Bethel Bible School in Topeka helped launch a religious movement that would eventually spread internationally. Organizers hope the concert will introduce a new generation to that history while highlighting the broader influence religious communities have had on Topeka.

“Topeka has a remarkable story of faith that stretches back nearly to the city’s founding, and Open Skies gives us an opportunity to share that story with a new generation,” Visit Topeka President Sean Dixon said.

Organizers also point to the influence of Christian abolitionists and Free-State settlers, the Congregationalist roots of Washburn University and Topeka minister Charles Sheldon, whose 1896 novel In His Steps popularized the question, “What would Jesus do?”

The inaugural event is being organized by the AIM 5 Foundation, a Christian organization that works with community partners and supports local initiatives. In addition to live music, the evening is expected to include food trucks and other activities.

Organizers said they anticipate thousands of people could attend and believe Open Skies could become one of the largest events held at Evergy Plaza.

Additional information is available through the official Evergy Plaza calendar and the Visit Topeka event announcement.

CJ Leede’s “Headlights“ is definitely one of the most interesting horror books I’ve read. While it feels like I’m reading a police procedural with the main character, FBI special agent Daniel Stansfield, two characteristics stick out through the whole book.

First is how the book is a love letter to Colorado. It has many references to John Denver and Colorado, especially the Denver area. I’ve been lucky enough to visit Red Rocks and Fiddler’s Green within the last year. Other places mentioned in the book are quintessential Colorado. Some of the ones I haven’t been to are now on my must-see list!

The Stanley Hotel also plays a big part in this book. The scene that takes place in that iconic horror hotel will stay in your mind for a long time. The book even has a shoutout to Alferd Packard aka “The Colorado Cannibal.”

The second unique characteristic is how grief plays such an important part. Daniel deals with the loss of his mother. I love how Leede uses country classics and dancing to help Dan remember his mother. While growing up, they bonded on those things.

“Headlights” provides an idea about what happens when we pass away. Leede mentions during an interview how that was on her mind when she was writing this book. 

The book attempts to solve many mysteries. It has many twists and turns, and I never would have guessed the ending. If you’re looking for a book that makes you go “what the fuck,” but gives you an answer at the end that still keeps you thinking weeks after you read the book, this is for you! 

I also think this would be an interesting book for a book club, as there are so many things to discuss. I highly recommend this book to adults who love horror and science fiction horror. If you’re a fan of Colorado, John Denver, and the Shining, you will also enjoy this if you can get past some gruesome scenes.

A court-appointed monitor’s findings at a California ICE detention center are renewing scrutiny of private detention facilities nationwide, including Kansas’ recently reopened CoreCivic prison.

By Jefferu Fogg

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — When Leavenworth city commissioners voted 4-1 in March to approve a special use permit allowing CoreCivic to reopen its former prison as the Midwest Regional Reception Center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, supporters and opponents agreed on one thing: the decision carried enormous consequences.

For city leaders, the issue centered largely on protecting taxpayers after a year-long legal battle with the Nashville-based private prison company. Opponents, however, repeatedly warned that once detainees began arriving, meaningful oversight could become far more difficult.

Much of the year-long debate surrounding CoreCivic’s effort to reopen the facility was previously reported by the Kansas Reflector, which documented months of public hearings, legal challenges, testimony from former employees, and concerns raised by immigrant-rights advocates and Leavenworth residents.

Five months later, a court-appointed external monitor’s report from another CoreCivic-operated ICE detention center is renewing attention to many of those same concerns.

A Court-Ordered Investigation

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union highlighted the findings of an independent court-appointed monitor who evaluated medical care at the California City Detention Facility, an ICE detention center operated by CoreCivic in California.

The 52-page report was prepared by physician Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar after reviewing 141 medical records, interviewing 40 detainees and numerous staff members, conducting a three-day on-site inspection, and reviewing thousands of pages of facility documents. The investigation was ordered by a federal judge after detainees challenged medical conditions at the facility.

The monitor’s conclusion was unequivocal.

“The facility lacks a reliable system to consistently provide adequate health care, placing individuals at serious risk of both immediate and long-term harm.”

Among the report’s findings were determinations of non-compliance in every major category the court required the monitor to evaluate, including:

• Adequate medical staffing
• Intake medical screening
• Emergency medical care
• Mental health treatment
• Chronic disease management
• Dental care
• Access to prescribed medications
• Specialist referrals
• Sick-call response systems

The report concluded that staffing shortages, delayed treatment, inadequate intake procedures, inconsistent emergency care, poor continuity of medical treatment, and insufficient oversight created an unsafe healthcare environment for detainees.

Familiar Concerns

For many who opposed reopening Leavenworth’s detention center, those findings sound remarkably familiar.

Throughout more than a year of city meetings, residents repeatedly questioned whether the city—or even ICE itself—would be able to identify problems before detainees suffered harm.

As previously reported by the Kansas Reflector, former CoreCivic correctional officer William Rogers urged commissioners to reject the permit, arguing he had witnessed serious deficiencies while employed at the Leavenworth facility before it closed in 2021.

Rogers described one incident in which he said an inmate developed life-threatening sepsis after repeated requests for treatment of an infected tooth allegedly went unanswered. He compared that experience to the more recent death of asylum seeker Emmanuel Damas at another CoreCivic-operated detention facility in Arizona, where advocates alleged an untreated dental infection led to sepsis.

Whether those incidents reflect broader systemic problems has been the subject of significant public debate, but they became central to many residents’ arguments that reopening the prison without strong oversight carried substantial risks.

Others warned that once the prison reopened under a federal contract, enforcing permit conditions could prove considerably more difficult than negotiating them beforehand.

A Difficult Decision

Commissioners who ultimately approved the permit consistently emphasized that their decision was based less on immigration policy than on financial realities and legal risk.

Commissioner Joe Wilson described the process as “agonizing,” saying the city had to weigh its fiduciary responsibility against the possibility of prolonged litigation and significant financial exposure.

Commissioner Holly Pittman similarly stated that denying the permit could expose taxpayers to substantial legal liability after multiple court rulings during the dispute.

Mayor Nancy Bauder argued the city was in a stronger position than when the prison previously operated because CoreCivic now holds a special use permit that includes enforceable operating conditions and gives the city authority to revoke the permit for violations.

Commissioner Rebecca Hollister remained unconvinced.

Casting the lone dissenting vote, she questioned whether the permit would provide meaningful accountability in practice and said approving it required a level of trust in CoreCivic that she did not yet possess, particularly given controversies involving other facilities.

What About Leavenworth?

According to recent ICE detention statistics, the Leavenworth facility currently houses approximately 244 immigration detainees, including about 190 men and 54 to 55 women.

ICE data further indicates that approximately 182 detainees have no criminal convictions, while 62 have criminal histories.

Those figures underscore an important distinction.

Immigration detainees are generally held in civil detention, not criminal incarceration. Many are awaiting immigration proceedings, asylum determinations, or removal hearings rather than serving criminal sentences.

At this time, there is no publicly available evidence demonstrating that the Leavenworth facility is experiencing the same systemic medical deficiencies identified in California.

That distinction is important.

The California findings stem from an independent court-appointed investigation conducted under federal judicial oversight following litigation specific to that facility. They should not be interpreted as proof that identical conditions currently exist in Kansas.

At the same time, critics argue the report demonstrates how significant problems can develop inside detention facilities before the public becomes fully aware of them.

Unlike California City—which is now operating under federal court supervision and independent medical monitoring—Leavenworth currently has no comparable court-appointed oversight reviewing day-to-day medical operations.

Supporters of the facility note that ICE conducts inspections and maintains contractual oversight requirements. Critics question whether those mechanisms alone are sufficient to detect systemic deficiencies before they become serious.

The Question That Remains

The concerns raised during Leavenworth’s permitting battle were never solely about immigration policy.

They were about transparency.

They were about accountability.

And they were about whether people held in civil detention—regardless of why they are there—would receive constitutionally adequate medical care.

There is currently no public evidence that Leavenworth’s CoreCivic facility is experiencing the same problems documented in California.

But the court-appointed monitor’s findings illustrate why many Leavenworth residents spent more than a year asking difficult questions before the prison reopened.

Whether Kansas ever faces similar challenges may ultimately depend on something many opponents argued was essential from the beginning: independent, transparent oversight capable of identifying problems before they become tragedies—not after.

Editor’s Note: Background regarding Leavenworth’s special use permit proceedings and public hearings was informed by previous reporting from the Kansas Reflector. Information regarding the California City Detention Facility is based on the independent report of a court-appointed external monitor filed in federal court and public materials released by the American Civil Liberties Union. The California findings are specific to that facility and should not be interpreted as evidence that identical conditions currently exist at the Leavenworth detention center.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE: