Sixteen years ago, Damon Hininger went to work for the Corrections Corporation of America as a correctional officer at the company’s Leavenworth Detention Center.

Hininger returned to the Leavenworth center earlier this month, but this time as a top executive with the company.

Hininger, who graduated from Lansing High School, recently was promoted to president and chief operating officer of CCA, a private corrections company based in Nashville, Tenn.

“I’m very honored and humbled by this whole thing,” he said Aug 12 during a visit to the Leavenworth center.

Hininger said he went to work at the then new Leavenworth Detention Center in 1992, several months after he graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree.

“He wanted to learn the business,” said Bruce Roberts.

Roberts is chief of security at the Leavenworth Detention Center and worked with Hininger early in his career.

Cindy Collins, a unit manager at the Leavenworth center, said a lot of the people who went to work for the center in its early days had previous experience in corrections.

She said Hininger was new to the field and asked a lot of questions. He soaked in the information.

The Leavenworth Detention Center houses inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service. The inmates are awaiting federal trial.

Hininger said he worked at the Leavenworth Detention Center for a couple of years before taking a position with a CCA facility in Arizona.

He said the Leavenworth Detention Center has seen dramatic changes since he left.

“It’s just amazing walking through the building,” he said.

Hininger said he believes there was skepticism among some within the community when the center opened as people wondered whether the facility and company were going to be successful. But he now believes the center is well accepted in the community, he said.

Hininger visited the Leavenworth Detention Center on the day of a barbecue for employees. The center has had a week of activities to show appreciation for staff.

Hininger said his visit included a court run with CCA employees as they transported inmates to a courthouse in Kansas City, Mo.