Understanding West Baton Rouge Detention Center: Size, Who It Houses, Annual Bookings, and the 80-Acre Garden
If your loved one is at West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center, knowing a few concrete facts can help you picture the place and understand what daily life there looks like. Here's a clear snapshot: where it is, how big it is, who it holds, how busy it gets, and the facility's unusual 80-acre garden.
West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center was built in 1997 as part of the West Baton Rouge Parish Law Enforcement Center in Port Allen, Louisiana.
It's the parish's main jail, providing detention services for all law enforcement agencies in West Baton Rouge Parish. Arrests made by different agencies across the parish funnel through this single facility.
The detention center was built to house 330 inmates - 297 males and 33 females. That breakdown gives you a sense of how housing is separated by gender.
The facility handles roughly 3,400 bookings per year. That's a useful number for families: it's an active jail with regular intake and release, so things can move quickly when someone first arrives.
West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center holds people in both pre-trial and post-trial status. That means it houses people still waiting for court alongside those already sentenced and serving time.
The facility also houses federal detainees and Louisiana Department of Correction detainees. So even though it's a parish jail, the population isn't limited to local, pre-sentencing cases.
Programs Clergy
- ✓ General Education Development (GED)
- ✓ Alcoholics Anonymous / Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA)
- ✓ Non-denominational religious programs
Note: The jail states it provides 24 hours per day, 7 days per week access to inmates by clergy and counsel, by arrangement.
One unusual feature: the facility operates an 80-acre garden. According to the detention center, produce from the garden helps offset the cost of feeding inmates.
Trying to make sense of where your person is and what happens next? A few details matter right away. With about 3,400 bookings a year, the jail processes a steady flow of people - which can affect how quickly things move during intake and the early days of custody. The population is mixed: pre-trial and post-trial, plus federal detainees and Louisiana DOC detainees. Two people in the same building can be there for very different reasons and timelines. On the support side, the facility offers weekly programs including GED classes, AA/NA meetings, and non-denominational religious programming. And if you're coordinating help from a minister or attorney, the jail states that clergy and counsel access is available 24/7 by arrangement - a practical point when you're trying to get someone seen.
Tip: This overview doesn't cover day-to-day rules like visitation, phone calls, or commissary. Verify current procedures directly with the detention center before you visit or send anything.
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