Louisiana Immigration Detention Centers: Facilities, Bond, and Visits

Louisiana holds one of the largest concentrations of immigration detention beds in the country, spread across seven facilities in rural parishes and operated under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If someone you know has been picked up, the immediate questions are the same for almost every family: which of the Louisiana immigration detention centers is holding them, how do you reach them, and how do you get them released? This article walks through each of those in the order you’ll need them.

The Seven Facilities

All immigration detention in Louisiana falls under ICE’s New Orleans Field Office, headquartered in St. Rose. Most facilities are run by private prison companies. The seven with active ICE facility pages are:

Allen Parish Public Safety Complex, 7340 Highway 26 W, Oberlin. All visitation is non-contact and conducted by video.
Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, 830 Pine Hill Road, Jena.
Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center, Pine Prairie (Evangeline Parish).
Richwood Correctional Center, near Monroe. Visitation runs seven days a week.
River Correctional Center, Ferriday.
South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, 3843 Stagg Avenue, Basile. Roughly 1,000 beds.
Winn Correctional Center, Winnfield.

Each facility posts its own phone number, visitation schedule, mailing address, and procedures on its ICE webpage. Facility rules change more often than the federal standards behind them, so call ahead or check the page before you travel or send anything.¹

Finding Someone in Detention

Start with ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System. It’s free, public, and searches by either Alien Registration Number (A-Number) or biographical information.²

The A-Number is the most reliable route. It’s a unique identifier that appears on correspondence from the Department of Homeland Security or the Executive Office for Immigration Review. The locator requires exactly nine digits; if the number you have is shorter, add leading zeros to the front. Without an A-Number, you can search by first and last name plus country of birth and date of birth. Name searches must match exactly, so watch for hyphens and alternate spellings.²

The system will not return results for anyone held fewer than 48 hours or anyone under 18.² If the search comes up empty, email the ICE New Orleans Field Office at NewOrleans.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov or call the specific facility you suspect.³

Phone Calls, Mail, and Money

Calls

Facility phones are outgoing only. You cannot call in and be connected to a detained person.⁴ Detainees call out using collect calls, prepaid debit accounts, or calling cards. Facility staff will take and deliver phone messages, though not necessarily quickly. If you want to receive calls, set up and fund a prepaid account with the third-party phone service provider used at that particular facility.

Federal detention standards require reasonable phone access at rates comparable to what the general public pays.⁵ People representing themselves without a lawyer are entitled to free calls to legal service providers from an ICE-provided list. Indigent detainees handling their own cases can also get free calls to family members helping with their proceedings.

Mail

Detainees can send and receive mail. Under federal standards, incoming general correspondence must be delivered within 24 hours of receipt absent extraordinary circumstances. All mail is inspected for contraband, but staff cannot read general correspondence beyond what’s needed to check for prohibited items.⁶

Each facility adds its own specifics. Common requirements include writing the detainee’s full name and A-Number on the envelope, and prohibitions on cash and certain enclosures. Call the mail clerk before sending anything unusual. If the detainee is transferred, only legal mail is forwarded; general letters go back to the sender.⁷

Commissary Funds

You can deposit money into a detainee’s commissary account so they can buy food, toiletries, and phone time. Personal checks and cash are not accepted. Approved methods include money orders, cashier’s checks, and electronic transfers through services like Western Union.⁸ Some facilities also use third-party platforms like Access Corrections for electronic deposits, which charge a transaction fee. Detainees with no funds in their account are considered indigent and receive a postage allowance at government expense.

Visiting a Detained Person

Visitation rules vary sharply between facilities, so the single most important step before making the drive is calling ahead or checking the facility’s ICE page. Some facilities allow in-person visits; others conduct all social visits by video. Visit lengths may be as short as one hour.⁷

Several baseline rules apply everywhere. Every adult visitor must present government-issued photo identification, no exceptions. All visitors are subject to personal search, including a pat-down and inspection of bags. Anyone who refuses is turned away.⁹

Cell phones, pagers, and radios are not allowed inside secure areas. You cannot hand anything directly to a detainee; items intended for them must go to staff for approval first. Many facilities enforce a dress code, posted on the facility page or available by phone.⁹

Children may visit, and federal standards encourage contact visits with minor children where possible. Any minor must stay under the direct supervision of an adult visitor, and at some facilities the accompanying adult must be at least 18. A child without ID can be admitted if the accompanying adult vouches for their identity, at the supervisor’s discretion.⁹

Getting Released on Bond

Not everyone stays detained through the whole case. Federal law allows ICE to release a detained person on bond of at least $1,500, though actual bond amounts are frequently set much higher.¹⁰ ICE can also release someone on conditional parole without bond, and can revoke either form of release at any time.

Some people cannot be released on bond at all. Mandatory detention applies to individuals with certain criminal convictions, those deportable on terrorism-related grounds, and those charged with or convicted of offenses like burglary, theft, or assault on a law enforcement officer. The exceptions are extremely narrow, generally limited to people cooperating with law enforcement investigations into major criminal activity.¹⁰

Requesting a Bond Hearing

If ICE sets a bond you consider too high, or denies bond entirely, the detained person can request a hearing before an immigration judge. There is no filing fee. The request is ordinarily made in writing and should include the person’s full name, A-Number, the bond amount ICE set, and the detention facility. It goes to the immigration court with jurisdiction over the place of detention.¹¹

At the hearing, the judge weighs whether release would pose a danger to others or property, whether the person is likely to appear at future hearings, and whether they present a national security risk. If bond is granted, someone has to pay it before release. If it’s denied or set too high, the decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. A second bond hearing requires showing that circumstances have materially changed since the last decision.¹¹

Paying the Bond

Bond can be paid two ways. A surety bond is posted through a bonding company on the Treasury Department’s Circular 570 list of approved sureties. Alternatively, the full amount can be deposited by certified check, cashier’s check, or money order. Personal checks and cash are not accepted. The person posting the bond (the “obligor”) must certify that the funds are not from illegal activity.¹²

ICE also runs an electronic bond payment system called CeBONDS. The obligor needs a Social Security number to use it. By using CeBONDS, the obligor agrees to receive bond notices electronically and has to monitor the account regularly.¹³

Lawyers and Court Hearings

Detained people have the right to consult a lawyer, but the government does not provide one for free. Immigration proceedings are civil, not criminal, so there is no public defender equivalent. Finding representation is one of the most consequential steps in the process, and for people held in rural Louisiana far from major legal aid offices, it’s often the hardest.

Attorneys and their staff can visit during hours more flexible than general social visitation. At many Louisiana facilities, legal visits can be scheduled through the ERO eFile online platform, and attorneys can request confidential phone calls or video meetings with clients through the same system.¹⁴ Documents exchanged during legal visits are inspected for contraband but not read by staff.¹⁵ Written correspondence marked as legal mail is inspected for physical contraband only, in the detainee’s presence, and staff cannot read or copy it.⁶

Every facility is required to post a list of pro bono legal organizations in housing units and update it quarterly.⁷ The Executive Office for Immigration Review also funds a Legal Orientation Program that gives group presentations on rights, court procedure, bond eligibility, and possible forms of relief. It doesn’t provide individual representation, but it helps people understand whether they might qualify for protection or release.

The case itself is heard by an immigration judge, not a jury. It starts with a Master Calendar Hearing for pleadings and scheduling, followed by an individual hearing where contested matters and applications for relief are decided.¹⁶ For detained individuals, hearings are often conducted by video teleconference from the facility. If the judge orders removal and the person disagrees, they can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Missing a hearing without good cause can result in an in-absentia removal order, which is extremely difficult to reopen.

Medical Care and Complaints

Federal standards require every facility to provide medical, dental, and mental health care at no cost. New arrivals get an initial screening within 12 hours covering acute conditions, chronic issues, mental health history, substance dependence, and disabilities, followed by a full physical and mental health assessment within 14 days. Tuberculosis screening per CDC guidelines happens before placement in general population.¹⁷

Those are the standards on paper. Quality of care varies, and complaints about inadequate or delayed treatment are common in immigration detention nationally. Two federal offices handle complaints. The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties reviews allegations of rights violations during detention or enforcement; complaints go through an online portal at engage.dhs.gov/crcl-complaint. CRCL doesn’t provide legal remedies or representation, but uses complaints to identify systemic problems.¹⁸

The DHS Office of Inspector General handles complaints about specific misconduct, waste, or abuse. Complaints can be filed anonymously, confidentially, or with full identity disclosure through the OIG hotline form, and complaints about detention conditions should use offense code “99D.”¹⁹ Detainees themselves can call both offices from the facility at no charge; the numbers are required to be posted in housing areas alongside the pro bono legal services list.

1
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Detention Facilities
2
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Online Detainee Locator System
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. New Orleans Field Office
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement. INS Detention Standard – Telephone Access
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Performance-Based National Detention Standards 2011 – Telephone Access
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. National Detention Standards Revised 2019 – Standard 5.1 Correspondence and Other Mail
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Allen Parish Public Safety Complex
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Instructions for Depositing Money into Detainee Trust
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. PBNDS 2011 – Visitation
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1226 – Apprehension and Detention of Aliens
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United States Department of Justice. Executive Office for Immigration Review – 8.3 Bond Proceedings
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration Bond – Form I-352
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ICE CeBONDS. Home
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Attorney Information and Resources
16
United States Department of Justice. Master Calendar Hearing
17
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. National Detention Standards Revised 2019 – Standard 4.3 Medical Care
18
Homeland Security. Make a Civil Rights Complaint
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DHS OIG. DHS OIG Hotline Complaint Form