Louisiana has long held the highest incarceration rate in the country -- and its use of solitary confinement has historically matched that scale. In 2016, Louisiana confined people in solitary confinement cells at rates almost four times the national average. The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola -- the largest maximum-security prison in the country -- is home to Camp J, a unit once known as "the dungeon" for its use as long-term solitary confinement housing, sometimes for years on end.
Camp J closed in 2018 after its cell locks malfunctioned, weapons were discovered throughout, and more than 80 corrections officers left their positions. In July 2025, Governor Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency and ordered the unit reopened -- driven by prison overcrowding caused in part by his own 2024 tough-on-crime legislation that lengthened sentences and eliminated parole for adults who committed crimes after August 1, 2024. The reopened unit, renamed Camp 57, was announced in September 2025 as housing ICE immigration detainees. Detained immigrants launched a hunger strike over conditions there including extended solitary confinement. Advocates called the reopening of a facility whose entire legacy is solitary confinement a step backward.
Louisiana was listed by the Unlock the Box Campaign as one of twelve states to have passed solitary confinement legislation between 2024 and 2025. Verify the specific legislation at publish.
What Solitary Confinement Is Called in Louisiana
The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) uses the following terms:
Restrictive Housing: The general term for housing separated from general population, encompassing all forms of isolation used in Louisiana prisons.
Disciplinary Segregation: Punitive isolation following a disciplinary hearing and finding of guilt, with a defined sanction term. The Intercept/The Lens investigation found that over three-quarters of disciplinary segregation placements at Raymond Laborde Correctional Center were for nonviolent offenses.
Extended Lockdown / Administrative Segregation: Non-punitive isolation for safety, security, or investigative reasons. In practice, the line between disciplinary and administrative segregation has been blurred in Louisiana -- people have been held in restrictive housing beyond their disciplinary sentence because of a "lack of bed space" in general population, as DPSC itself admitted in at least one documented case.
Camp J / Camp 57: The specific unit at Angola used for the most restrictive long-term isolation. Historically known as the highest-restriction solitary unit at Angola.
Angola and Louisiana's Prison System
The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, located in West Feliciana Parish, is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. It holds approximately 6,000 people on a campus of roughly 18,000 acres. Angola houses men serving life sentences and Louisiana's death row.
The broader DPSC system includes facilities across Louisiana with their own restrictive housing capacity, including Raymond Laborde Correctional Center (RLCC) in Cottonport and several other state prisons.
Camp J History
Camp J at Angola was for decades one of the most notorious solitary confinement units in the country. It held four cell blocks with more than 400 individual cells, all for solitary confinement. People were sent to Camp J for fighting with weapons or other serious offenses and were confined there for extended periods -- sometimes years.
Warden Darryl Vanoy closed Camp J in 2017-2018 after the cell locks malfunctioned, allowing inmates to evade security checks. Dozens of weapons were found throughout the unit. Approximately 85 correctional officers resigned, retired, or were fired related to conditions and misconduct at Camp J.
In July 2025, Governor Landry declared a state of emergency to allow the rapid refurbishing of Camp J, citing lack of bedspace at Angola for violent offenders. In September 2025, the reopened unit -- renamed Camp 57 -- was announced as housing ICE immigration detainees. Detained immigrants launched a hunger strike within weeks, protesting extended solitary confinement, lack of hygiene supplies, limited medical care, and inability to access attorneys.
Who Can Be Placed in Restrictive Housing in Louisiana
Disciplinary segregation requires a disciplinary hearing and guilty finding. DPSC's own data showed that over three-quarters of disciplinary segregation placements at RLCC were for nonviolent offenses -- suggesting the criteria in practice are broad.
Administrative and extended restrictive housing can be initiated without a prior hearing for safety, security, or investigative reasons. DPSC has acknowledged placing people in restrictive housing beyond their disciplinary sentence due to general population bed space shortages -- a practice advocates have identified as indefinite de facto solitary.
How Long People Stay in Restrictive Housing
Louisiana has no statute setting a maximum duration for restrictive housing. Disciplinary segregation has a defined term set at the hearing. Administrative and extended restrictive housing are open-ended.
DPSC's own data -- obtained by The Intercept and The Lens through public records requests -- documented at least one person who spent over 600 consecutive days in segregation, with their disciplinary sentence "renewed" due to lack of general population bed space. DPSC acknowledged this practice when confronted.
Camp J held people for years in solitary before its 2018 closure.
Reform History and Context
In 2016, Louisiana confined people in solitary at nearly four times the national average. Under previous DPSC leadership, the state engaged with the Vera Institute of Justice and made some efforts to reduce restrictive housing placements. Progress was partial and inconsistently documented -- DPSC provided Vera with data from only two facilities and released no prior-year data for comparison.
The 2025 Camp J reopening under Governor Landry represented a reversal of the reform trajectory. The new 2024 tough-on-crime laws (longer sentences, eliminated parole) produced overcrowding that drove the emergency declaration.
Louisiana was identified by the Unlock the Box Campaign as one of twelve states to pass solitary confinement legislation between July 2024 and July 2025. Verify the specific legislation at publish.
Mental Health Protections
Louisiana has no statute specifically prohibiting placement of people with serious mental illness in restrictive housing. DPSC operates under general Eighth Amendment mental health care obligations. No court-ordered settlement governing Louisiana state prison solitary confinement and mental illness was identified.
The Louisiana Advocacy Center (advocacyla.org) and the Promise of Justice Initiative (promiseofjustice.com) are the primary organizations monitoring DPSC conditions.
What Families Can Do
If your person is in restrictive housing in a Louisiana state prison:
Find where your person is housed. DPSC provides an offender search at doc.louisiana.gov. This confirms current facility placement.
Contact the facility. Each DPSC facility has administrative staff. Contact the warden's office or classification department to confirm your person's housing status and the stated reason for any restrictive placement. For Angola, contact the Angola warden's office directly.
Ask specifically about bed-space holds. DPSC has acknowledged placing people in restrictive housing beyond their disciplinary sentence due to lack of general population bed space. If your person has completed their disciplinary segregation sanction but remains in restricted housing, ask specifically whether this is a "bed-space hold" and document the response.
Document duration. Louisiana has no statutory duration limit. Keep records of the start date of any restrictive housing placement, the stated reason, and the review dates (if any).
File a grievance. DPSC has an administrative grievance process. Help your person file formal grievances for conditions that violate policy, for extended placement beyond disciplinary sentence, or for denial of mental health care. Administrative remedies must typically be exhausted before court relief.
Contact the Promise of Justice Initiative. The Promise of Justice Initiative (promiseofjustice.com), based in New Orleans, is a leading advocacy organization for incarcerated people in Louisiana and has specifically called out Camp J's reopening.
Contact the ACLU of Louisiana. The ACLU of Louisiana (laaclu.org) has been involved in monitoring conditions at Angola and other DPSC facilities and may be able to provide referrals.
Contact the Louisiana Advocacy Center. For people with disabilities and mental illness in DPSC custody, the Louisiana Advocacy Center (advocacyla.org) is the state's protection and advocacy organization.
Seek legal help. If your person is being held in restrictive housing beyond a completed disciplinary sentence, has been in administrative restrictive housing for an extended period without documented justification, or has a serious mental illness and is not receiving required care, these situations may support legal claims. Consult a prisoner rights attorney familiar with Louisiana federal courts.
Frequently asked questions
What is solitary confinement called in Louisiana prisons?
DPSC uses "restrictive housing" as the general term and "disciplinary segregation" for post-hearing punitive isolation with a defined term. Extended or administrative restrictive housing covers open-ended non-punitive isolation. Camp J at Angola -- historically known as "the dungeon" -- was the specific long-term solitary unit. It reopened as Camp 57 in 2025 for ICE detainees.
What is Camp J at Angola prison in Louisiana?
Camp J was Angola's most restrictive long-term solitary confinement unit -- four cell blocks with over 400 individual cells. People were sent there for serious rule violations and held for extended periods, sometimes years. It closed in 2018 after cell locks failed, weapons were found, and approximately 85 staff left. Governor Landry declared a state of emergency in July 2025 to reopen it; it reopened as Camp 57 in September 2025, initially housing ICE immigration detainees who launched a hunger strike over conditions.
Who can be placed in restrictive housing in Louisiana?
Disciplinary segregation requires a hearing and guilty finding -- though DPSC data shows over three-quarters of placements at one facility were for nonviolent offenses. Administrative and extended restrictive housing can be initiated without a prior hearing. DPSC has acknowledged placing people in restrictive housing beyond their disciplinary sentence due to general population bed space shortages.
What are conditions like in Louisiana restrictive housing?
DPSC has not published comprehensive public data on conditions in its restrictive housing units. Documented conditions at Camp J before its 2018 closure included extended solitary confinement for years, malfunctioning cell locks, and pervasive contraband weapons. Detainees at the reopened Camp 57 in 2025 reported 23-hour-per-day cell confinement, lack of hygiene supplies, limited medical care, and inability to access attorneys.
How long can someone stay in solitary in Louisiana?
Louisiana has no statute setting a maximum duration. Disciplinary segregation has a defined term. Administrative and extended restrictive housing are open-ended. DPSC's own data documented a person held over 600 consecutive days in segregation -- with their disciplinary sentence "renewed" for bed-space reasons. Camp J held people for years before its 2018 closure.
Why was Camp J at Angola closed and then reopened?
Camp J was closed in 2017-2018 after its cell locks malfunctioned, allowing inmates to evade security checks. Dozens of weapons were found throughout the unit, and approximately 85 staff left. It was reopened in 2025 via a state of emergency declared by Governor Landry, driven by overcrowding from his 2024 tough-on-crime legislation that lengthened sentences and eliminated parole. It reopened as Camp 57 and initially housed ICE immigration detainees.
Are mentally ill prisoners protected from solitary in LA?
Louisiana has no statute specifically protecting people with serious mental illness from placement in restrictive housing. DPSC operates under general Eighth Amendment healthcare obligations. No court-ordered settlement governing this population in Louisiana state prisons was identified. The Louisiana Advocacy Center (advocacyla.org) is the protection and advocacy organization for Louisianans with disabilities in DPSC custody.
What reform did Louisiana make to solitary confinement?
Louisiana engaged with the Vera Institute on reducing restrictive housing from the mid-2010s through the early 2020s, making some partial progress. However, data transparency was limited -- DPSC provided Vera with data from only two facilities. Louisiana was identified by the Unlock the Box Campaign as having passed solitary legislation between 2024-2025; verify the specific law at publish. The 2025 reopening of Camp J under Governor Landry represented a reversal of the earlier reform trajectory.
Can families visit someone in LA restrictive housing?
Visiting is typically restricted during disciplinary and administrative segregation. Contact the specific DPSC facility directly to confirm current visiting rules before traveling. Angola facility contact information is at doc.louisiana.gov. Written mail generally retains stronger protections than phone or visits during restrictive housing.
What can families do if someone is in Louisiana solitary?
Use DPSC's offender search at doc.louisiana.gov to find your person. Contact the facility to confirm housing status and the reason for restrictive placement. Ask specifically whether any bed-space hold is extending time beyond a completed disciplinary sentence. Document start date and all review dates. File grievances through DPSC's process. Contact the Promise of Justice Initiative (promiseofjustice.com) or ACLU of Louisiana (laaclu.org) for advocacy resources. For people with mental illness or disabilities, contact the Louisiana Advocacy Center (advocacyla.org). ---
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