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Louisiana State Penitentiary

State prisonMaximummaleClosed 1917Under capacity (96%)LowHigh
Verified · Data dated
Aging · 5mo ago
Sources last reviewed on · data-as-of

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

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How to send mail, money, and visit Louisiana State Penitentiary

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Open toolkit
Photograph of Louisiana State Penitentiary

Gallery

From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 10).jpg

    Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 100).jpg

    Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 101).jpg

    Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 102).jpg

    Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 103).jpg

    Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 104).jpg

    Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 105).jpg

    Photo by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. New Orleans Term. 1888 via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • 90-1634- Miguel A Rosales v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary - DPLA - c1fff5c770d28af5d6bb82e3e100aefe (page 106).jpg

    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 east–west border with Mississippi.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

6,312

Current population

6,073

Occupancy

96%

Year opened

1901

Closed 1917

Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Population held

male

Opened

1901

Region

Louisiana

Security level

Maximum

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

Prison farms have drawn criticism for low-wage labour and conditions analogous to the post-Reconstruction plantation system.

Visiting

Saturdays, Sundays, and selected weekdays. Approved visitors list. No phones, electronics, or excessive cash.

Mailing

Inmate Name & DOC#, Louisiana State Penitentiary, 17544 Tunica Trace, Angola, LA 70712.

Practical info

Inmate Welfare Fund accepts deposits via JPay. The Angolite — one of the longest-running inmate publications.

Known issues

Multiple long-running federal lawsuits over death row conditions and 'closed-cell restriction' use.

Notable inmates

  • Antonio James
    1954–1996

    Antonio G.

  • Albert Woodfox
    Albert Woodfox
    1947–2022 · activist
  • Feltus Taylor
    1962–2000

    Feltus Taylor Jr.

  • Gary Tyler
    Gary Tyler
    1958 · textile artist

    Gary Tyler (born July 19, 1958), from St.

  • Leslie Dale Martin
    1967–2002

    Leslie Dale Martin (April 24, 1967 – 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 Sonnier
    1950–1984

    Elmo Patrick "Pat" Sonnier (February 21, 1950 – 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 Bordelon
    1962–2010

    Gerald James Bordelon (February 19, 1962 – January 7, 2010) was an American convicted murderer and sex offender who was executed in Louisiana for murder.

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

17544 Tunica Trace, Angola 70712
(225) 655-4411
Official site

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

15/100
Low concern15/100
Overcrowding
0/30
Oversight reports
2/30
Structural flags
0/15
Death signals
10/15
Conditions text
3/10

What the score is responding to:

  • · 4 oversight reports in the last 5 years
  • · Multiple in-custody-death signals in sources
  • · Severe-conditions keyword in sources

This facility scores 15. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 13 points above national average.

Related facilities

All in United States →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Compared to other facilities in United States

7436 peers
Conditions risk scorethis: 10/100 · peers avg: 2/100 (+332%)

Higher risk than 92% of peer facilities in United States.

Occupancythis: 96% · peers avg: 93% (+4%)
Capacity (beds)this: 6312 · peers avg: 546 (+1056%)

Reports

  • propublica22 May 2026

    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

    source

  • propublica28 Mar 2024

    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

    source

  • propublica8 Sept 2023

    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

    source

  • marshall-project24 Mar 2022

    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

    source

  • marshall-project29 Jul 2021

    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

    source

  • marshall-project11 Oct 2017

    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

    source

  • marshall-project23 Jul 2017

    , 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

    source

  • marshall-project21 Feb 2016

    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

    source

  • marshall-project14 Dec 2015

    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

    source

Data completeness

100%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Louisiana State Penitentiary. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/louisiana-state-penitentiary
Chicago
"Louisiana State Penitentiary." World Prisons. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/louisiana-state-penitentiary.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-louisiana-state-penitentiar,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Louisiana State Penitentiary},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/louisiana-state-penitentiary},
  urldate = {2026-10-15}
}