State prisonMaximummaleClosed 1917Under capacity (96%)ModerateHigh
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Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Louisiana State Penitentiary is a state prison located in West Feliciana County, Louisiana. Rated capacity: 6,312. Reported population: 6,073. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.
Background
The Louisiana State Penitentiary is a maximum-security prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is the largest maximum-security correctional facility in the United States, with 5,000 prisoners and 1,800 staff, including corrections officers, janitors, maintenance workers, social workers, nurses, educators, deputy wardens, and the warden himself. The current warden is Darrel Vannoy, who was appointed to the role in 2024, after having previously served as warden between 2016 and 2021, following long-time warden Burl Cain's resignation.
Located in West Feliciana Parish, the correctional facility is set between oxbow lakes on the east side of a bend of the Mississippi River and thus flanked on three sides by water. It lies less than two miles (three kilometers) south of Louisiana's straight eastâwest border with Mississippi.
Leslie Dale Martin (April 24, 1967 â May 10, 2002) was an American convicted murderer who was executed by the state of Louisiana for the June 1991 rape and murder of 19-year-old Christina Burgin.
Elmo Patrick "Pat" Sonnier (February 21, 1950 â April 5, 1984) was a convicted American murderer and rapist in Louisiana who was executed by electrocution at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Louisiana on April 5, 1984.
Gerald James Bordelon (February 19, 1962 â January 7, 2010) was an American convicted murderer and sex offender who was executed in Louisiana for murder.
rs has increased by about 8%, and Landry’s budget indicates that number will continue to rise. The governor is asking for an additional 688 beds at the state’s largest prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, which will require the hiring of 150 correctional officers. A corrections department spokesperson said the increased capacity is necessary because under the previous
Louisiana’s Plan to Imprison People Longer Imperils Sickest Inmates — ProPublica Janice Parker walked into the medical ward at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola several years back, looking for her son, Kentrell Parker. He should have been easy to find. The 45-year-old New Orleans native had been bedridden since an injury in a prison football game left him paralyzed f
sked in a recent interview if she wants Lanieux released from prison, LeBranch said, “Most definitely.” “It Felt Like a Done Deal” Lanieux spent most of the next 13 years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola, where the vast majority of lifers serve their time. He worked in the fields of the old slave plantation, picking tomatoes and okra and shucking corn as guards on
fery H., a staff member of the Angolite magazine produced in Louisiana State Prison, wrote: “We have helped distribute the two issues of News Inside you graciously donated to the Louisiana State Penitentiary. We would like to commend you on your efforts and state that you have produced a very informative and insightful publication. ... We look forward to reading more of your publication, and as
side A Filthy New Orleans Jail Made My Son Sick. The ‘Cruel and Unusual’ Medical Treatment at Angola Prison Killed Him. This spring, a judge ruled that the healthcare at the Louisiana State Penitentiary violated prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights. Lois Ratcliff tells the horrifying story of her son Farrell’s decline and death. I spent 40 years working in healthcare, mostly as a certified nursing
urtroom. In the past several years, courts in Arizona, Mississippi, and Wisconsin have sided with prisoners suing officials over extreme heat. In 2012, a federal judge ordered the Louisiana State Penitentiary to lower temperatures on death row to 88 degrees; at times, the heat index had reached 109. But Texas is the center of the legal battle. More than 20 state prisoners have died from the heat
, staff counsel at the Arizona Capital Representation Project, which represented Nordstrom. “It just means they get treated more like non-death sentence inmates do.” Officials at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola began loosening restrictions on death row earlier this year, not long before three condemned inmates filed a federal class action lawsuit in March claiming that conditions were in
e This! Newsletters Events Donate Feedback? [email protected] Albert Woodfox met with supporters in New Orleans, La. on Feb. 19, the day he was released from Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. Max Becherer/Associated Press Filed 10:00 p.m. EST 02.21.2016 Q&A ‘I’ll Believe It When I See It.’ After 42 years in solitary, Albert Woodfox walks free. When a dazed Albert Woodfox walked
Marshall Project Inside News & Awards Impact People Supporters Jobs Contact Us Investigate This! Newsletters Events Donate Feedback? [email protected] Louisiana State Penitentiary warden Burl Cain inside the prison chapel in Angola, La., in 2011. Gerald Herbert/Associated Press Filed 7:15 a.m. EST 12.14.2015 News What Angola's Resigning Warden Is Leaving Behind For 20 years, Burl Ca
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Albert Woodfox1947–2022 · activist