Understanding West Baton Rouge Detention Center: Capacity, Bookings, Garden Program, and Who Is Housed

West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center was built to house 330 inmates. That number helps explain the scale of the facility and why intake, movement, and communication tend to follow structured schedules.

Those 330 beds break down into 297 for men and 33 for women. If your loved one is being held there, this split explains why housing decisions and available space differ between male and female units.

The jail was built in 1997 as part of the West Baton Rouge Parish Law Enforcement Center in Port Allen, Louisiana. It sits within a larger law enforcement complex, which is useful context for understanding how the jail fits into parish operations.

West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center handles roughly 3,400 bookings per year. That figure reflects how many people move through intake and release over 12 months, not the daily population.

Thousands of bookings a year means a steady flow of new arrivals. That volume affects timing: how quickly someone completes the booking process and how soon their information appears in the places families check for updates.

The facility has been self-sufficient since it opened, using an 80-acre garden to help cover the cost of feeding inmates. For families, this is one example of how the detention center manages daily operations and basic necessities like meals.

West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center provides jail services for all law enforcement agencies in the parish. Anyone arrested or held by agencies within West Baton Rouge Parish can be housed here as they move through the legal process.

• ✓ People in pre-trial status
• ✓ People in post-trial status

• ✓ Federal detainees
• ✓ Louisiana Department of Correction detainees