If you have someone locked up in Louisiana, two questions come up fast: what can they buy, and what can you send. Louisiana is one of the trickiest states to answer that for, because of where its state prisoners are actually held. Here is how it works, so you are not guessing or wasting money.
One thing worth saying up front. The most dependable way to stay in touch with anyone inside is the mail. A letter and a few printed photos get through when an account is short or when a facility takes no packages. Treat that as your baseline and the rest as extra.
How Louisiana is different
In most states, a state sentence means a state prison. Louisiana is the big exception. The state has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country and relies heavily on parish sheriffs to house its state inmates, paying them a daily rate per person. The result is that a large share of people serving state felony sentences, well over ten thousand of them, are physically held in local parish jails rather than in a state prison run by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
What that means for you is simple but important: do not assume your person is in a state prison just because they have a state sentence. They may be in a parish jail under a sheriff's rules, with a completely different vendor and a different ID number. Confirm where they are physically held first, because that decides how you send money and what you can send.
Louisiana state prisons (DPS&C)
If your person is in an actual state prison, there is no cash. Money goes onto their account, and they spend it at the commissary.
The state uses JPay for deposits at its prisons. You can send money online, through the app, or by phone, and you will need the person's DOC number and name. Funds are usually available quickly.
For packages, Louisiana state prisons authorize one vendor: Union Supply Direct. You order from the approved catalog and it ships to the prison for inspection. Homemade or family-mailed boxes are not accepted, and only the approved vendor works.
Louisiana parish jails
This is the layer that matters most in Louisiana, because so many people, including state-sentenced ones, are held here. Each parish sheriff runs its own deposit and commissary contracts, so the vendor and rules change from parish to parish, and they are usually different from the state system. Parish jails also use a local booking or CCN number rather than a state DOC number, so make sure you have the right one.
A few real examples to show the spread. Orleans Parish, in New Orleans, handles deposits and commissary through Access Corrections and Tiger Deposits, with retail cash available through CashPayToday. Jefferson Parish takes deposits online through Forecomm Solutions and at a cash-only lobby kiosk, using the inmate's CCN number. Lafayette Parish uses a lobby kiosk for cash or card, does not accept checks, and runs phones through its own provider. Calcasieu Parish in Lake Charles uses TouchPay and lobby kiosks. Many parish jails do not run a package program at all and allow commissary only, while some do; you have to check the specific jail.
The takeaway is simple: never assume a parish jail uses the same vendor or rules as the state, or as the next parish over. Pull up that specific jail's page and confirm the deposit vendor, the ID number to use, the spending cap, the cutoff, and the package policy before you send anything.
Federal facilities in Louisiana
Louisiana has two federal complexes. The Oakdale complex in Allen Parish holds two low-security facilities and a detention center that has been used for immigration detention, plus a camp. The Pollock complex in Grant Parish holds USP Pollock, a high-security penitentiary, alongside a medium-security facility and a camp. Use the inmate locator to confirm which one holds your person. These all run on Bureau of Prisons rules, which are the same nationwide.
Funding works through the federal Trust Fund. You can send money online or by app through JPay, mail a money order or cashier's check made payable to the Federal Bureau of Prisons with the inmate's full name and register number on it to the national lockbox, or use Western Union. No cash, no personal checks.
The commissary is the only store in the federal system, and the inmate shops it in person on an assigned day each week, usually tied to their register number. You fund the account; they pick from what is in stock. The shelves cover food and drink mixes, hygiene, a limited clothing selection, stationery and stamps, some over-the-counter medicine, and at some facilities approved electronics.
On the money, general population inmates can spend up to $360 per month, and that limit resets monthly. Stamps, phone credits, and over-the-counter medicine generally fall outside the cap. In November and December the limit typically rises to $410 for holiday shopping. An inmate who refuses the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program gets knocked down to roughly $25 per month.
Federal care packages are not allowed. The Bureau prohibits outside food, clothing, or hygiene packages from family or friends. The narrow exceptions are publications shipped directly from a publisher or approved retailer, religious items cleared through the chaplain, and legal materials from an attorney or court.
For messaging, the federal system uses an email tool families reach through the CorrLinks portal, reviewed by staff and not confidential. To find someone in federal custody, use the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, which searches by name or register number.
Staying connected
Louisiana takes more homework than most states, because your person could be in a state prison, in a parish jail serving a state sentence, or in federal custody, and each one has its own money and package rules and even its own ID number. The first job is always to confirm exactly where they are. The one constant through all of it is the mail. A letter and photos reach almost anyone inside, which makes it the most reliable way to show up for your person while you sort out the rest.