Times-Picayune Releases Eight-Part Prison Series

May 25, 2012

On Sunday, May 20, 2012, the Times-Picayune concluded an eight-part series on incarceration in Louisiana, entitled, 'Louisiana Incarcerated: How we built the world's prison capital.' Cindy Chang, Special Projects Reporter for the Times-Picayune, spent more than a year in prisons around the state, including major metropolitan facilities, rural prisons, and the State Penitentiary at Angola.

The 8-part series covers a range of topics, including: the numbers behind bars; trading prisoners; prisons as an "economy machine"; the size of Orleans Parish Prison; why lifers get the most access to rehabilitation programs; criminal justice policies; mandatory minimums and sentencing practices; pardons; disproportionate impact on certain communities; re-entry; and, changing policies in Texas that have closed a prison and halted the practice of housing Louisiana prisoners from for-profit facilities in Texas prisons.

The coverage includes videos, live interviews with Corrections staff and prisoners, vivid photography and numerous graphics.

The entire series is compiled online at www.nola.com/prisons/