0 people, most recent first. Choose a name, or a dot on the map.
1,598 of them are named here. The rest appear only in the state’s official counts, without names.
At least 16 people have died in custody in Louisiana so far in 2026. The most recent named here is Julián Curo-Churata, who died on September 29, 2026 at Richwood Correctional Center.
Each dot is one of them, held in a jail, prison or lockup, or executed by the state. Some died after abuse by officers; others from withdrawal, overdose or untreated illness; many by suicide. Almost all of them show the state’s neglect of the people in its custody.
This is an undercount: many deaths are never made public, and older records are hard to find.
0 people, most recent first. Choose a name, or a dot on the map.
One mark per person, by the year they died. Choose the box at the side to see every decade. Coverage is uneven: recent deaths come mostly from local news since 2000, older ones from official lists and historical newspapers, so the shape shows what was recorded as much as how many people died.
DPS&C reports how many people die in its prisons each year, but not who they were. Most of those deaths, especially from illness, never appear in the news, so far fewer are named here. The gap is people still to be identified.
Source: DPS&C reports. Official counts are deaths in state prisons only; county jails report to no central agency.
| Year | Reported by DPS&C | Named here |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 129 | 131 |
| 2024 | 148 | 148 |
| 2023 | 123 | 124 |
| 2022 | 121 | 126 |
| 2021 | 135 | 136 |
| 2020 | 148 | 151 |
| 2019 | 95 | 95 |
| 2018 | 113 | 114 |
Each bar is a source and the years its records cover. Sources checked on a schedule are searched again for new records; the others were collected once.
These deaths have cost taxpayers in Louisiana at least $167,000: the amount governments have agreed or been ordered to pay the families and estates of at least 2 people named here, in settlements and court awards reported in the news. Families sued over at least 14 of these deaths. Many suits end with no amount made public, and many settlements are kept confidential, so the true cost is higher.
| Person | Paid by | Year | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Lawrence Jr. | Calcasieu Parish Sheriff | 2022 | $167,000 |
| Fred Moore | Assumption Parish Sheriff Lezin H. Himel (court award) | 1936 | $2,500 |
Questions, a correction, or a death I’ve missed? Email me at orion.j.taylor@gmail.com.