Leavenworth located 25-miles northwest of Kansas City–was the largest maximum-security federal prison in the United States for over a hundred years. Its imposing dome gave rise to the term “the big house”. Here are three tales of the struggle to endure life behind its giant walls. Carl Panzram, a violent inmate who attacks his foreman. Then, a murderer, Robert Stroud, who becomes famous for his work with birds. And finally, the prison’s drug trade gives rise to the most feared inmate in the country, Tommy Silverstein.