Marcia Levering is a former CoreCivic employee. She worked at the Leavenworth facility as a Corrections Officer during its time operating as a federal facility for the US Marshals. In 2021, she was attacked and left permanently disabled because of severe understaffing and neglect.

Occurrences of homicides, assaults, and poor living conditions at CoreCivic facilities have been widely reported. A federal judge specifically called the Leavenworth site a “hellhole.” Staff reported that some units had almost half their cell doors compromised. They also said that during hiring, “we were told we’d work 3 days of 12-hour shifts,” but halfway through training, they started hearing about mandates for overtime. Staff also alleged training that was so inadequate as to be practically nonexistent for new staff or positions. On multiple occasions, Ms. Levering is said to have worked in an outer building with just one other officer when there should have been seven. She was still in training as a corrections officer the first time she was asked to work out of ratio.

On February 6, 2021, the facility was again understaffed, with only two officers in the outer building when there should have been seven. Ms. Levering was in training for a new position as a Case Counselor but was also trying to help out in her former role as a corrections officer between training sessions. She was coming out of her office when the wrong door was buzzed open, allowing an inmate to come out and attack her. He threw boiling water on her face and stabbed her four times: once in the right ear and right arm, and twice in her abdomen. She sustained two broken ribs, a punctured lung, and lost 24 inches of her colon and spleen.

Ms. Levering has endured extensive and invasive medical procedures as a result of her brutal attack. She has a rod and 10 pins in her arm. There were two emergency surgeries where the doctors cut from breastbone to belly button both times. These were just the procedures in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Ms. Levering has undergone 16 surgeries between 2021 and 2025, including six to address facial trauma resulting in paralysis and visual impairment. Surgery alone could not fix these issues, and years of facial retraining through physical therapy were required. She also now walks with a cane due to vertigo. Ms. Levering had to rely on her veteran’s benefits to get tested for her balance issues, as worker’s comp was no longer taking care of her medical issues. In fact, CoreCivic is no longer helping her at all.

Ms. Levering receives no financial support from CoreCivic despite being permanently disabled on the job. She has sold her furniture to pay utilities. She has several times been on the verge of eviction. Yet, she still tries to help her young adult children as they work their way through junior college. Ms. Levering is so much more than this one incident. She is a mom, a veteran, a neighbor, and a friend. Corporate greed put her in this position, but community can help get her back on her feet. The Carceral Accountability Council is glad to be able to help bring attention to this cause and hopes that people will give generously.

A little about Ms. Levering’s Military Service:

Ms. Levering is a veteran. She served her country, entering the Army in May 2000 when she was 30 years old. Her delayed entry allowed her to finish paying off student loan debt from both an Associate's degree in court reporting and a Bachelor's from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ms. Levering’s education allowed her to enter service as a Specialist/E4, and she earned the rank of Sergeant/E5. She qualified for a new MOS/96H-Common Ground Station Operator, a position which required a Secret Clearance to perform Army duties along with communications with the Air Force during training and wartime. She was also nominated for the prestigious Audie Murphy Award but declined the board at that time because she was expecting her second child. She was working directly for the First Sergeant and also took on the role of Unit FRG (Family Readiness Group) Leader for that deployment. She continuously maintained a PT score of 300+ and proudly wore that PT patch on her PT uniform.

Ms. Levering's unit was deployed to Iraq in 2003 as the WMD (weapons of mass destruction) unit with attachments including the OED, SF, and a British unit. They also had a NYT reporter embedded alongside them. By the end of the deployment, they were embedded at Baghdad International Airport, just outside the city of Baghdad.

After seven years of committed service, Ms. Levering left the Army in April 2007 to concentrate on her growing family.