A reader makes a fair point about the photo used to illustrate the Jan. 24 editorial about possibly housing Gitmo prisoners at the United States Disciplinary Barracks on Fort Leavenworth, the military's only maximum-security prison:
"... a picture was shown of the tower at the old prison on the Fort. Later I saw the same picture on FOX News. My question is: Why don't KC Star or other news organizations show the new prison located on the Northwest side of the Fort? It really looks nice and more secure."
I asked The Star's Dawn Bormann, who covers the prison. She says the old prison's wall, tower, offices and some trustee housing are considered part of the Disciplinary Barracks, but the main unit is a state-of-the-art facility that bears little resemblance to the old.
But there's a major wrinkle. At such a high-security facility, permission isn't granted to photographers to take pictures. As the credit on the photo that ran with the editorial says, it was a "handout" photo, taken on Fort Leavenworth's behalf for distribution.
Photographers could take shots from public land around the prison, but the views I've seen myself don't look like they'd offer much detail. The construction was even kept as secret as possible, with large tents covering the site as it was being built. That, of course, makes sense.
