9 years after flood displaced over 1,000 inmates, Louisiana's only prison for women opens

Louisiana’s only women's prison formally opened Thursday, after nine years of temporary housing arrangements for over 1,000 female inmates who were displaced by a devastating 2016 flood.

The brand-new, $160 million Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, bordered by sugarcane fields and the nearby Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, is designed to withstand a 500-year flood like the historic inundation in August 2016, according to Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections officials. It can accommodate 958 incarcerated women.

Gov. Jeff Landry and Warden Kristen Thomas cut the ribbon for the new facility Thursday, emphasizing the prison as a symbol of the modernization of the Louisiana criminal justice system.

“It marks, I hope, the beginning of a restructuring and a rebuilding of correctional facilities around the state,” Landry said. “This is the first state facility to be opened in over 35 years, so that alone makes this day very historic.”

Thomas said the prison will provide women who are incarcerated opportunities for personal growth and rehabilitation.

“This is a commitment, a commitment to ensuring that every woman who enters these doors leaves better prepared for her future, a commitment to justice that is not only firm but fair, and a commitment to the belief that every individual has the capacity to change,” she said.

Inside the new women’s prison

The prison will begin absorbing inmates housed at the Jetson Center for Youth in Baker, which held about half of the original women’s prison population, and other correctional facilities over the next few weeks, according to a DOC spokesperson.

The complex is approximately 300,000 square feet and contains 15 buildings, including dormitories, a gymnasium, medical building, kitchen, postpartum wing and education center.

“This facility represents progress,” Thomas said. “It is designed to provide a safe, secure and humane environment while also creating meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation.”

In the career and technical education programs, women can receive training in furniture restoration, cosmetology, medical laboratory assisting, horticulture, welding and heavy equipment operation.

They can also earn a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministry through the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Landry said the programs give women the tools to “reenter our community and be productive citizens.”

“I think it’s important that this facility also reflects the position that our administration is taking on the criminal justice system,” Landry said. “Our hope is that those who have to come into this facility do so and only are tenants one time.”

The new prison will support 58 medical and mental health employees. Thomas, who is a certified Prison Rape Elimination Act auditor and victim’s advocate, highlighted the link between mental health and contact with the criminal justice system.

“We know that incarceration is not just about accountability but also about transformation,” Thomas said. “By offering mental health services, substance abuse treatment and trauma-informed care, we are addressing the challenges that too often contribute to cycles of incarceration.”

From groundbreaking to ribbon cutting

Reopening the women’s facility took far longer than state officials originally estimated.

Initially, DOC officials suggested the former prison would be renovated after the 2016 flood and house inmates again after only four to eight months. At the groundbreaking in 2022, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards acknowledged “the wheels can move really slowly sometimes on recovery.”

On Thursday, Landry said the former women’s correctional facility, built in 1972, was intended to “stand for generations.”

“Unfortunately, mother nature came calling,” Landry said. “In 2016, the great flood devastated the facility, leaving it beyond repair. That required the state to look within to find the funds necessary to rebuild it because of the great history that was on this site for rehabilitating women.”

He thanked DOC leaders and correctional officers for their contributions to the new facility.

“Our mission is simple but unwavering,” Landry said. “We will continue to do what’s right for our citizens, we will keep improving our correctional facilities, and we will keep working to make our communities safe.”

By Haley Miller | August 28, 2025