Former Jail Release Records
The old Lafourche Parish Detention Center permanently closed when Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex began operating in January 2019. It holds no one today. A current inmate search, visitation question, bond-processing inquiry, or recent release call must not be directed to the former jail. LPSO remains the practical route for the older booking and movement record, while the Clerk holds criminal indexes and court minutes.
Historical records may still use the former facility name. That does not make the building an active records counter or custody site. Identify the event as a pre-LPCC booking and give the best date range available. If the person was moved into state, federal, or another parish’s custody, the old LPSO release record should name that destination. Follow the receiving authority for later events.
Find Former Jail Releases
A name alone is a weak historical key. Old records can contain aliases, suffixes, repeated bookings, and more than one case. Gather the full legal name, date of birth, approximate arrest and release dates, booking number, docket number, arresting agency, and known charges. State that the event occurred at the former detention center before LPCC replaced it.
- Search the Lafourche Clerk criminal index for the name and verify the matching docket and identifiers.
- Review minute entries for bond, sentence, time-served credit, dismissal, probation, or commitment to DPS&C.
- Submit a specific LPSO request for the former jail’s booking, release, and transfer event.
- Ask for the release type, actual event time, authority, holds, and receiving agency or destination.
- Follow the named state, parish, or federal custodian when the old event was a transfer rather than community release.
The live LPSO roster is built for current or snapshot custody. It is not the right archive for an old release. A blank current result says nothing about the details of a former detention center booking. Historical verification relies on the source record and court file. The broader Lafourche Parish released-inmate records path can help when custody continued beyond the parish.
Note: a pre-2019 booking should name the former jail in the request even though LPSO is the present records custodian.
Former Jail Records Custodians
There is no current facility contact for the closed detention center. The proper contact card is therefore a historical records route, not a jail phone or address. LPSO handles the sheriff’s booking and movement record. The Clerk supplies court indexes, minutes, dispositions, and certified copies. These sources should be read together because they document different stages.
LPSO Custodian of Records
Chief Deputy Roy Gros
P.O. Box 5608
Thibodaux, LA 70302
roy-gros@lpso.net
Lafourche Parish Clerk of Court
303 West 3rd Street
Thibodaux, LA 70301
Phone: (985) 447-4841
Usually weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays
Use the official LPSO records form for the jail record. It asks for requester contact information and a specific description. The form states that a fee may apply but does not verify an amount. Ask for an estimate. For the court side, the Clerk’s official records portal provides the documented index and minute route.
Former Jail Release History
The replacement is a key local date boundary. The official LPCC information states that the new complex replaced the old detention center and began operations in January 2019. LPSO’s opening material described the old jail as having capacity for 245 people, compared with 533 at the new complex. These figures give historical context. They are not release counts and cannot answer whether a named person left custody.
Use the date of the booking, not the date of the request, to choose the facility name. A person booked at the former center may have a later court event or state record under a newer system. The historical LPSO entry is still the source for the old facility’s physical movement, while later custodians control their own discharge records.
Former Jail Court Release Records
The Clerk’s archive boundaries make it useful for older Lafourche cases. The official portal identifies criminal and civil indexes beginning in July 1982, minute entries beginning in January 2001, and online images beginning in March 2018, with older images available after redaction. Those dates describe record access, not inmate release windows.
A minute may show bond action, a release order, dismissal, sentence, credit for time served, probation, or commitment to DPS&C. It can establish why a custody change was authorized. It may not show the exact time the person physically left the old jail. LPSO’s booking or release entry supplies that event time and can reveal whether another agency accepted custody.
| Historical source | Best use | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| LPSO booking/release record | Facility, event time, type, destination | May contain restricted fields |
| Clerk criminal index | Locate docket and match the case | Index alone does not prove release |
| Court minute | Order, disposition, sentence, bond | May omit exact jail departure time |
| Receiving-agency record | Trace custody after transfer | Covers only that agency’s stage |
Note: the Clerk’s phrase “released records” means documents opened for public view, not a list of released inmates.
Former Jail Release Outcomes
“Release” in an old jail system may mark several outcomes. Bond or recognizance can end that confinement while a case continues. Time served can satisfy an incarcerative term while probation or another matter remains. A dismissal can explain the court action, though the jail record still supplies the physical event. Transfer to DPS&C, another parish, USMS, or ICE ends LPSO custody but continues control elsewhere.
Ask for both the release type and receiving agency. A record that says “released to DOC” should not be summarized as community freedom. A state locator or DPS&C request is the next step. Likewise, an immigration or federal transfer should be checked through the named authority, not through the present parish roster. Historical dates can span several databases, so preserve the agency attached to each event.
- Release record
- The custodian’s entry showing how and when its custody ended.
- Discharge
- The end of the relevant legal custody or sentence status.
- Transfer
- Departure to another custodian while confinement or control continues.
- Court minute
- The court’s dated entry describing an order or case event, not necessarily jail gate time.
Request Former Jail Release Records
A narrow request helps the custodian search legacy systems. List the subject’s full name and aliases, date of birth, old booking period, arresting agency, booking number, and docket number. Name the Former Lafourche Parish Detention Center. Ask for the booking date and time, release date and time, release type or disposition, releasing authority, public charges and holds, and receiving agency or destination.
If certification matters, ask the Clerk about a certified docket copy. If LPSO withholds part of a record, request the cited legal basis and any reasonably separable public facts. Louisiana corrections law protects many reports but provides a public route to specified general information, including discharge date in the state context. The scope of an exemption should not be guessed from a missing online field.
For a disputed historical field, contact the agency that created it. Give the exact field, booking or docket number, and a source document supporting the correction. An expungement or sealing order is a separate judicial process and should not be treated as an informal edit request. The Clerk cannot give legal advice about eligibility.
Current Custody Is Not Here
No current release schedule, visitation hours, roster, phone line, or mailing process should be attributed to the former jail. For a recent parish booking, the proper facility is Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex. South Lafourche has limited documented housing, and the Transitional Work Program is a community-confinement setting. Each has its own role.
If an old record shows a person moved to a current Lafourche facility, start a new custody inquiry for that later event. If it shows transfer outside the parish, use the destination. A fully discharged person may no longer appear in a current locator. “No online result” is the accurate statement until the source record resolves the outcome.
The closed status makes the historical record the only purpose of this facility entry. No one should be sent to an obsolete building or told that the former detention center can confirm custody today.