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Louisiana's Detention Economy — Second-Largest State for ICE Detention

Overview

Louisiana is the second-largest state for immigrant detention behind Texas, with over 7,000 people detained across at least nine ICE facilities. Close to 98% of people in Louisiana detention are held in for-profit prisons run by GEO Group and LaSalle Corrections. The state is part of what researchers at Syracuse University’s TRAC call “Detention Center Alley” — Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi — which together hold 59% of ICE’s detained population on any given day.

What makes Louisiana distinctive: the state has an exceptionally low immigrant population, meaning in many Louisiana towns the only immigrants present are those incarcerated in local detention facilities. In Pine Prairie (pop. 1,490), the ICE Processing Center holds 600+ detainees — nearly half the town’s population.

Scale and Throughput

7,500+ ICE detainees housed in Louisiana (as of late 2025)
Nine ICE detention facilities across the state
45% of Louisiana’s 93,105 book-ins processed through the Alexandria Staging Facility alone
National immigration detention numbers jumped to 72,000+ by end of January 2026

Key Facilities (by parish)

Facility	Parish	Operator	Capacity	Notes
Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center	LaSalle	GEO Group	1,160	8th largest in US; held Mahmoud Khalil
Winn Correctional Center	Winn	LaSalle Corrections	~1,500	Highest daily avg (1,491); converted from state prison 2019
South Louisiana ICE Processing Center	Evangeline (Basile)	GEO Group	~1,000	Nearly all women; sexual abuse conviction
Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center	Evangeline	GEO Group	~500 contractual	Operating at 1,010 — double capacity
Jackson Parish Correctional Center	Jackson	LaSalle Corrections	1,252	Parish gets $74/day/detainee (3x state rate)
Richwood Correctional Center	Ouachita	LaSalle Corrections	1,129	Both over contractual capacity
River Correctional Center	Concordia	LaSalle Corrections	600	IGSA through Concordia Sheriff
Allen Parish Public Safety Complex	Allen	Allen Parish Sheriff	165	Sheriff-operated; built 2015
Alexandria Staging Facility	Rapides	GEO Group	400	Deportation flight hub; 1,000+/week throughput
Louisiana Lockup (Angola Camp 57)	West Feliciana	LaSalle Corrections	416	New Sept 2025; former solitary unit

The Private Prison Duopoly

GEO Group operates: Central Louisiana IPC (Jena), South Louisiana IPC (Basile), Pine Prairie IPC, Alexandria Staging Facility

LaSalle Corrections operates: Winn Correctional Center, Richwood Correctional Center, Jackson Parish CC, River Correctional Center (Concordia), Louisiana Lockup (Angola)

GEO Group is fighting a Supreme Court case (Raul Novoa v. GEO Group) over paying detainees as little as $1/day for forced labor, including depriving detainees of food, water, and hygiene supplies to coerce work.

Governor Landry’s Enforcement Agenda

Governor Jeff Landry has aggressively aligned Louisiana with federal immigration enforcement:

May 2025: Operation GEAUX — ordered Louisiana law enforcement to join ICE under 287(g), partnered with ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan
September 2025: Louisiana Lockup — opened Angola’s former solitary confinement wing (Camp J, renamed Camp 57) for ICE detention; $949,000/month state payment reimbursed by feds
December 2025: Operation Catahoula Crunch — 250 federal agents targeting New Orleans metro; goal of 5,000 arrests over two months

Financial Structure

Angola contract: $150/day per detainee for first 208; $125/day beyond that; flat monthly fee of $949,000
Jackson Parish: $74/day per detainee — approximately 3x what the state pays to house convicted criminals
GEO Group: $520M in new/expanded contracts in 2025; projecting $3B revenue in 2026
$45 billion allocated for ICE detention expansion over four years (from reconciliation bill, July 2025)

Conditions Crisis

Pine Prairie: Operating at double contractual capacity (1,010 vs ~500); sleeping on bare mattresses on floor
Angola Camp 57: 23-hour lockdown; 20 detainees sharing one roll of toilet paper; diabetic denied insulin
Hunger strikes: September 2025, 19 detainees at Angola struck; officials denied it happened despite DOC records showing 17 refused meals
Winn Correctional: Years of complaints about filthy conditions, brutal force, inadequate medical care; operating over contractual capacity
Sexual abuse: GEO Group contract officer David Courvelle pled guilty (Dec 2025) to sexually abusing Nicaraguan detainee at Basile facility
Forced labor: GEO Group’s “unsanctioned” work programs targeting queer/trans detainees; heavy cinder blocks, industrial chemicals without protective gear
Deaths: 2025 was deadliest year for ICE detention in two decades (32 deaths nationwide)

Orleans Parish: The Resistance

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson has maintained a longstanding policy (from 2011 Cacho v. Gusman settlement) prohibiting deputies from investigating detainees’ immigration status, honoring most ICE detainer requests, or sharing information with ICE. In response:

ICE issued 20 administrative subpoenas (Oct 2025 – Jan 2026) demanding interviews/documents
DHS sued Sheriff Hutson (Feb 2026) seeking judicial order to force compliance
Federal judge halted Louisiana’s state-level challenge to Orleans policy, ruling it’s a state law question
Immigration advocacy groups asked to join the lawsuit (April 2026)

This is the only meaningful institutional resistance to ICE in Louisiana.

Community Impact

Operation Catahoula Crunch devastated New Orleans’ Hispanic community:

Hispanic construction workers stopped showing up; construction sites shuttered
Hispanic-owned restaurants and stores emptied
Business owners unable to find workers who feared being targeted
City Council members and incoming mayor opposed the operation

Hammond Warehouse Proposal

ICE has reportedly targeted Hammond, Louisiana (Tangipahoa Parish) for a massive warehouse facility capable of holding up to 9,000 people. As of late 2025, local officials (Parish President, Mayor, police, sheriff) all said they had not been contacted by ICE/DHS about the proposal. This matches the pattern of secretive facility siting seen elsewhere.

Why This Matters for the Pipeline

Louisiana is the purest example of the detention economy model: budget-distressed rural parishes become economically dependent on ICE contracts that pay multiples of what state prisoners generate. The private prison duopoly (GEO Group + LaSalle Corrections) controls 98% of beds. The state’s low immigrant population means there is virtually no local constituency to oppose detention — the detainees are shipped in from across the country.

The heatmap signal density (50 parishes scoring, top parish at 131) reflects this: Louisiana has saturated the infrastructure markers — IGSAs, 287(g) agreements, ANC contracts, facilities — because detention IS the local economy in these parishes.

Sources

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