Representing Clients NationwideCall Us Today(843) 620-1100

Federal Prisons in Louisiana

Get a Consultation

By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

Federal prisons in Louisiana at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 4 institutions in Louisiana, two of them with a satellite camp, holding 4,873 people as of September 2026. All four are in the Bureau’s South Central Region and in the Western District of Louisiana.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
USP PollockU.S. Penitentiary · HighMen926—PollockWestern District of Louisiana
FCI PollockFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,450Camp: 260PollockWestern District of Louisiana
FCI Oakdale IFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,164—OakdaleWestern District of Louisiana
FCI Oakdale IIFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,011Camp: 62OakdaleWestern District of Louisiana
Total4 institutions4,551322
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

The Bureau’s July 1, 2026 closure announcement named no Louisiana institution, and all four carry populations in the roster snapshot behind this page, taken September 18, 2026. One name lags: the Justice Department’s immigration-court listing still calls FCI Oakdale II, once the complex’s detention center, “Federal Detention Center-Oakdale 2.”

How many federal prisons are in Louisiana?

Four, counting institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster. One is high security, USP Pollock; one medium, FCI Pollock; two low, FCI Oakdale I and FCI Oakdale II. Two carry a satellite camp, counted inside that institution’s row, not as a prison of its own, so the state has no stand-alone camp, no detention or medical center and no institution holding women. The four sit on two campuses, FCC Pollock in Grant Parish and FCC Oakdale in Allen Parish. The levels are set out in our guide to security levels, the national picture in the Bureau of Prisons directory.

What is each federal prison in Louisiana like?

Each of the four, in the table’s order.

USP Pollock

Louisiana’s only high-security penitentiary, holding men, and the only institution here with no prison of its own security level beside it. Activated in January 2001, it shares a Grant Parish campus, a street address and a commissary list with the medium next door, but keeps its own warden, post-office box and telephone number. Neither prison here runs the Residential Drug Abuse Program, and neither does the camp, so a man who wants RDAP has to be moved off the complex altogether. See USP Pollock.

FCI Pollock

Medium security for men at that same address, with a satellite camp and the state’s largest institutional population. Activated in April 2009, it runs a UNICOR factory sewing textiles for the military, and its complex is one of the few the Inspector General has inspected without warning, in June 2024. The headline finding was that the food areas were clean; the criticisms were narrower, about key control at the secure knife cages and the absence of cameras inside the food warehouse. See FCI Pollock.

FCI Oakdale I

Low security for men, the first institution inside the Oakdale complex in Allen Parish, 35 miles south of Alexandria, and the one with no camp. The Bureau’s designation manual gives FCI Oakdale a special mission: federally sentenced non-citizens are gathered there so Immigration and Customs Enforcement can dispose of detainers before the sentence ends. See FCI Oakdale I.

FCI Oakdale II

Low security for men a quarter of a mile further in, and the institution the complex’s minimum-security camp belongs to. It is built entirely of two-man cells where its neighbor’s six housing units are half cubicles, and it hosts the Institution Hearing Program, an immigration court inside the prison. Its camp is two open-bay dormitories. See FCI Oakdale II.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Louisiana?

The South Central Regional Office, at Grand Prairie, Texas. All four Louisiana institutions belong to the Bureau’s South Central Region, which a family meets at the second step of the administrative remedy process: a BP-10 appeal goes to the Regional Director, and Program Statement 1330.18 records at p. 7 that “Appeal to the General Counsel is the final administrative appeal.” Before that comes our guide to filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Louisiana?

One office, and it is not in the state. Louisiana is divided into three federal judicial districts, the Eastern, Middle and Western, under 28 U.S.C. § 98, and the Bureau’s page for RRM Dallas prints all three alongside districts in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. None is claimed by a second office or left unassigned.

Which office a case belongs to follows the district someone is going home to, not the district the prison stands in. Program Statement 7310.04 at p. 12 tells the Warden, where there is significant doubt about a referral, to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district.” Someone finishing a sentence at Pollock who will live in New Orleans is an RRM Dallas matter for that reason, not because the prison stands in Grant Parish. Timing is on our federal halfway houses page.

How do I find, write to, visit or send money to someone in a Louisiana federal prison?

Looking someone up is a national search. The inmate locator takes a name or a register number, and a name search needs a first and a last name. Read the result twice: the two prisons at Pollock and the two at Oakdale differ only by the type printed after the name.

Mail goes to the exact address block the institution publishes. The Pollock prisons share a street address but not a post-office box, and the Oakdale camp’s is published under FCI Oakdale II. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on each institution’s own supplement: the Oakdale prisons open earlier than the Pollock pair, and Oakdale II keeps one Saturday a month for a single unit. See visitation.

Money reaches an account by lockbox, Western Union Quick Collect or MoneyGram. Program Statement 4500.13 states at p. 77 that funds “received by the LockBox are processed the day they are received and posted to the inmate’s account the following day.” See sending money.

How many federal prisons does the Bureau of Prisons run in Louisiana?

Four institutions on the roster snapshot behind this page: one high-security penitentiary, one medium and two lows. Two of them also carry a satellite camp, which the Bureau counts inside that institution rather than as a prison of its own. All four share two campuses, at Pollock and at Oakdale.

What is the largest federal prison in Louisiana by population?

FCI Pollock, at 1,450 people as of September 2026. That is the institution by itself; its satellite camp holds another 260, which the population report prints as a separate row. Adding the camp does not change the answer, because no other Louisiana site holds more either way.

Does Louisiana have a high-security federal penitentiary?

One. USP Pollock is the only United States Penitentiary in the state and the only Louisiana institution the Bureau rates high security; it holds men. It shares a Grant Parish campus with FCI Pollock and that institution’s camp, which the Bureau lists together as FCC Pollock.

Are there federal prisons for women in Louisiana?

No. The roster records all four Louisiana institutions as holding men, so a woman sentenced by a Louisiana federal court serves the term outside the state, and which institution she goes to is a Bureau designation decision rather than something the sentencing district settles. Our guide to women’s federal prisons sets out where women are held and how placement is decided.

How do I look up someone held in a Louisiana federal prison?

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which searches the whole system rather than one state, by name or register number. Searching by name requires both a first and a last name. The facility line separates the Pollock pair, and the Oakdale pair, only by the type that follows the name.

Which reentry office handles halfway-house placement for someone releasing to Louisiana?

RRM Dallas, which sits in Texas. Its Bureau page prints Eastern Louisiana, Middle Louisiana and Western Louisiana alongside districts in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, so each Louisiana district is claimed once and by one office. Placement follows the release district, not where the sentence is served.

Can someone ask to be designated to a federal prison in Louisiana?

Nobody is designated on request alone. A judge may recommend an institution, but under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) the Bureau “shall designate the place of the prisoner’s imprisonment” and, subject to bed availability and the other statutory factors, place the prisoner “in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence.”

How can a federal defense firm help families with someone in a Louisiana federal prison?

Three problems recur at Louisiana’s institutions, each on the prisons’ own record. Movement: every institution in the state shares a campus with another, so a transfer of a few hundred yards can change the security level, the visiting rules and the programs within reach. Detainers: both Oakdale institutions exist partly to process them, and a lodged immigration detainer shapes halfway-house and home-confinement decisions long before removal is decided, among the problems we work on inside. Oversight: six officers at the Oakdale complex have been prosecuted since August 2023, and the administrative remedy record usually decides a First Step Act time credit or early release dispute.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and post-conviction firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, practicing nationwide. Mentions of Louisiana places on this page do not imply an office or a lawyer there.

Call 843-620-1100 or contact us to arrange a paid one-hour consultation about a specific situation. Calls are answered 24 hours a day.

Sources and currency

Bureau of Prisons documents

Audits and inspections

Court records and statutes

  • 28 U.S.C. § 98, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. The three Louisiana judicial districts.
  • 18 U.S.C. § 3621, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Designation at § 3621(b).

News and other sources

Sources reviewed September 2026.

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026

Contact Our Experienced Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer for Legal Help

Choosing the right federal defense team can make a difficult situation feel more manageable. At Elizabeth Franklin-Best P.C., we take the time to listen, answer questions, and provide the clarity people need to make informed choices about their future.

Schedule an Initial Consultation

This field is required.
This field is required.
This field is required.
This field is required.
This field is required.
The 8-digit BOP register number, if you have it.
This field is required.
Please include the full name of the person involved, the state and federal court (if known), the charge or stage of the case, and a brief description of the situation. If you are contacting us about a family member, tell us their name and where their case is located.
This field is required.
Scroll to Top