Louisiana Department of Corrections: Facilities, Parole, and Reentry

The Louisiana Department of Corrections, formally the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C), is the state agency that runs Louisiana’s nine adult prisons and supervises the people housed in them, along with everyone on state probation or parole. As of December 2025, about 30,161 people were in its custody, with another 44,000 under community supervision.¹ The agency sets the rules that govern daily life inside its facilities, decides how sentences are reduced through good behavior, runs education and reentry programs, and handles everything from mail inspection to medical copays.

How the Agency Is Structured

The Governor appoints the Secretary of the DPS&C, who has sole authority to set internal rules and procedures for every adult facility in Louisiana.² Beneath the Secretary sit divisions for offender management, health services, community supervision, and transition programs.

Title 15 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes lays out the department’s core duties. Among them, the DPS&C must operate a diagnostic and treatment center for medical, psychiatric, and educational evaluations of people in custody, and it must run a transition-services program for people approaching release.³ The department also contracts with local sheriffs and partners with community organizations to deliver programming.

Since 2017, the Justice Reinvestment Initiative has shaped the agency’s direction, aiming to reduce the prison population by 10 percent over a decade and redirect savings to programs shown to lower recidivism.⁴

Where People in State Custody Are Held

The DPS&C operates nine adult institutions across the state, plus several transitional work program sites for people near the end of their sentences.¹

Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola)

Angola is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, covering roughly 18,000 acres bordered on three sides by the Mississippi River. It holds the state’s most serious offenders and a large lifer population.⁵

Elayn Hunt Correctional Center

Located in St. Gabriel, Elayn Hunt houses the Adult Reception and Diagnostic Center, where newly sentenced men are processed and evaluated before assignment to a permanent facility. If intake runs longer than 30 days, the person can request special visits while waiting for placement.⁶

Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women

LCIW is the state’s primary women’s prison. A replacement facility opened in 2025 with expanded space for programming in cosmetology, horticulture, welding, and computer skills.

Transitional Work Program Facilities

People nearing release may transfer to a transitional work program site, where they hold outside jobs during the day and return to the facility at night. Locations include East Baton Rouge Parish, the Warren McDaniel Transitional Work Program in Orleans Parish, a women’s program in Concordia Parish, and sites in Catahoula, Morehouse, and Madison parishes.⁷

Good Time Credits

Good time is the mechanism that most directly changes when someone actually comes home. Under state law, eligible people earn credit toward sentence reduction based on the offense and criminal history.⁸

General felony rate in DPS&C custody: 13 days of credit for every 7 days served.
First-time crime of violence: 1 day of credit for every 3 days served.
Fourth or subsequent nonviolent felony: 1 day for every 2 days served.
Parish jail without hard labor: 30 days for every 30 days served.
Killing a peace officer or first responder in the line of duty: 1 day for every 30 days served.

Some people cannot earn good time at all. Anyone sentenced under the Habitual Offender Law, convicted of a sex offense, or convicted a second or subsequent time of a crime of violence is excluded. Earned credit can also be forfeited as a disciplinary sanction for major rule violations.

Parole Eligibility and Decisions

Parole lets someone finish a sentence under community supervision. The general rule is that a person becomes eligible for parole consideration after serving 25 percent of the imposed sentence. Crimes of violence are excluded from that threshold and carry longer mandatory minimums.⁹

The Louisiana Committee on Parole, operating under the Board of Pardons and Parole, makes release decisions. The committee weighs the disciplinary record, program participation, risk assessment scores, and input from the district attorney of the parish where the conviction occurred. The DA can review the full incarceration record and testify at the hearing.¹⁰

Victims of crime can register with the Louisiana Victim Outreach Program to receive automatic notification when the person who harmed them is scheduled for a pardon or parole hearing, moved to a transitional work program, released, or escapes.¹¹ A 24-hour inmate locator runs through the Louisiana Automated Victim Notification System at (866) 528-6748.

Probation as an Alternative Sentence

When a court orders probation instead of prison, it must impose at least two conditions: avoid criminal conduct and pay a supervision fee. The court can add any conditions reasonably related to rehabilitation, such as check-ins, employment, drug testing, or treatment. For felonies, the court can require up to two years of imprisonment without hard labor as an added condition of probation, meaning time locked up followed by continued supervision.¹² Violating a condition can trigger revocation and a full prison sentence, sometimes over technical violations like a missed appointment rather than a new offense.

Healthcare, Copays, and Trust Accounts

Louisiana law requires that every incarcerated person receive food sufficient for proper maintenance and clothing suited to the season. Parish authorities can require copayments for medical and dental treatment.¹³

In DPS&C facilities, copays run:

Routine sick call during scheduled times: $3.00 per request.
Mental health services when circumstances warrant a charge: $3.00.
Emergency care: $6.00 per encounter.
Follow-up visits and specialist referrals that result from an initial request: no charge until the provider releases the person from care.

Fees come out of the person’s trust account. Every person in DPS&C custody has one, holding wages, deposits from family, and other funds. The warden can freeze the account to collect court-ordered restitution, but the balance cannot be reduced by more than 75 percent for court costs and contributions to the Crime Victims Reparations Fund.¹⁴ Once court costs push the account below $250, future earnings split 30 percent to a spending account and 70 percent toward the debt. Family deposits go through electronic services or by mail with a money order; cash mailed in is not accepted.

Discipline and Grievances

Two internal systems govern complaints and rule violations, and both matter if you want to preserve rights or challenge a decision.

Filing a Grievance

The DPS&C encourages informal resolution first. When that fails, a written grievance goes to the warden within 90 days of the incident under the administrative remedy procedure. Each stage of review must produce a written response with reasoning and instructions for further appeal.¹⁵ Exhausting this process is typically a prerequisite for filing a lawsuit in federal court, so missing the 90-day window can close off legal options later.

Rule Violations and Sanctions

Violations fall into Schedule A (minor, heard in a low court proceeding) and Schedule B (major, heard in a high court proceeding).² Minor violations can result in sanctions up to 14 days, including loss of canteen, phone, television, or recreation privileges, confinement, or extra duty.

Major violations carry heavier consequences:

Disciplinary segregation up to 180 days for the most serious offenses like escape or assault.
Forfeiture of up to 180 days of earned good time, or all accumulated good time for escape.
Loss of visiting privileges up to 90 days.
Loss of incentive wages up to 12 months.

Any violation can also trigger a custody-level change, which the disciplinary board recommends and the classification board approves. That can mean a transfer to a higher-security facility. The board can suspend a sanction for up to 90 days.

Mail, Phone Calls, and Visitation

Mail

Incoming general mail must include the sender’s return address, the incarcerated person’s name and DOC number, and the facility’s mailing address. Staff open and inspect every letter for contraband, and contents can be read. Mail can be rejected for material that threatens security, contains plans for criminal activity, or is sexually explicit. Greeting cards and decorative stationery may be rejected unless they come from an approved vendor. If mail is rejected, the person must receive written notice within three working days.¹⁶

Legal mail is opened in the incarcerated person’s presence and inspected only for contraband and to verify the contents are privileged. Books and publications must ship directly from the publisher, and multiple copies of the same item for one person are not allowed.

Phone Calls

Under FCC interim rules effective in late 2025, calls from prisons are capped at $0.09 per minute for audio and $0.21 per minute for video, with facilities allowed to add up to $0.02 per minute for their own costs.¹⁷ The rules also prohibit “site commissions,” the kickback fees facilities used to collect from phone providers on top of per-minute charges.

Getting on the Visitor List

Getting approved requires an application and a criminal background check. The incarcerated person can request that an application be mailed or emailed to a prospective visitor, and the completed form goes to the facility’s visitation department. Faxed applications are not accepted. Every adult applicant is screened through law enforcement databases and re-screened every two years. If an active warrant turns up, local law enforcement is notified.¹⁸

Education and Vocational Programs

About 48 percent of people entering Louisiana’s prison system lack a high school diploma. The DPS&C runs programs starting at the literacy level and working up through the HiSET, the state’s high school equivalency exam. Literacy classes target people below a certain threshold on standardized assessments; HiSET prep covers reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.¹⁹

Career and Technical Education programs offer hands-on training in welding, carpentry, plumbing, heavy equipment operation, computer coding, and food safety. The department partners with more than 18 nationally recognized credentialing bodies, including the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), IC3 for computing, and ServSafe for food safety. The credentials are stackable, so someone can build qualifications over time.²⁰

Substance abuse treatment ranges from intensive inpatient to outpatient counseling, often paired with mental health services.

Reentry Support

Transitional Work Program

Eligible people can enter the Transitional Work Program between six months and four years before release, depending on the offense. Participants work outside jobs during the day and return to a structured facility at night. People convicted of sex offenses are generally excluded.²⁰

Regional Reentry Programs

The DPS&C runs eight Regional Reentry Programs for people within one year of release or already in a transitional work assignment. Each delivers a pre-release curriculum, two forms of identification, help with housing and employment plans, and connections to community resources. Two forms of ID sounds minor until you try to get a job, rent an apartment, or open a bank account without them.

Driver’s License Restoration

If your Louisiana license was suspended, revoked, or cancelled before or during incarceration, you may qualify for a one-year provisional Class E license after serving at least one year. The state defers all reinstatement fees that accumulated before or during custody for the duration of the provisional license. You will need proof of release from your probation office or facility. The provisional option is not available to anyone convicted of vehicular homicide or a third-or-subsequent DWI. A prior commercial driver’s license must be downgraded to a Class E, and motorcycle endorsements are not permitted on the provisional license.²¹

1
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. DPS&C Briefing Book – January 2026
2
Legal Information Institute. Louisiana Admin Code Title 22 I-341 – Disciplinary Rules and Procedures for Adult Inmates
3
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 15 RS 15-827 – Duties of Department of Public Safety and Corrections
4
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Criminal Justice Reform Initiative
5
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Louisiana State Penitentiary
6
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Elayn Hunt Correctional Center
7
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Transitional Work Program Facilities
8
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 15 RS 15-571.3 – Diminution of Sentence for Good Behavior
9
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 15 RS 15-574.4 – Parole Eligibility
10
Louisiana Board of Pardons & Parole. Board Policy 01-102-POL – Powers and Duties of the Parole Committee
11
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Register As a Victim
12
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 895 – Conditions of Probation
13
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 15 RS 15-705 – Food and Clothing Provisions for Prisoners
14
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 15 RS 15-874 – Compensation Account
15
Legal Information Institute. Louisiana Admin Code Title 22 I-325 – Administrative Remedy Procedure
16
Legal Information Institute. Louisiana Admin Code Title 22 I-313 – Inmate Mail and Publications
17
Federal Communications Commission. Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act – Rate Caps
18
Legal Information Institute. Louisiana Admin Code Title 22 I-316 – Offender Visitation
19
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Adult Education
20
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Reentry Initiatives and Transitional Work Programs
21
Louisiana Department of Public Safety Office of Motor Vehicles. Ex-Offender Provisional Drivers License