Winn Correctional Center

Winn Correctional Center (WCC) is a state prison for men, part of the Louisiana Department of Corrections prison system, located about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Winnfield in unincorporated Winn Parish, Louisiana. It is within the Kisatchie National Forest.[1]

Winn Correctional Center
Location180 CCA Boulevard, Winnfield, Louisiana
Security classmedium security
Capacity1538
Opened1990
Managed byLaSalle Corrections
DirectorKeith Deville, Warden

As of February 2014, Winn is one of several privately operated prisons in the state. The facility is medium-security and currently has the capacity to house 1,538 inmates.[2][3] Opened in 1990, it was expanded in 1992.[4]

Winn opened as the first privately managed medium-security prison in the United States.[5] Management of the state-owned facility passed from Corrections Corporation of America to LaSalle Corrections in mid-2015.[6]

Aged
  • Adult 18+

Demographics

As of 2016 75% of the inmates are black, and 25% of the prisoners are white or of other ethnic groups. Like in other Louisiana prisons, prison gangs are not common and inmates of various races socialize with one another. About 20% of the prisoners at Winn had committed crimes related to recreational drugs.[1]

As of 2016 women, including some single mothers, make up more than 50% of the prison guards. POC make up the majority of the prison guards.[1]

Composition

The prison has five units: Ash, Birch, Cypress, Dogwood, and Elm. More difficult to manage prisoners are located in the Ash and Elm units, nicknamed by prisoners as "the projects". Dogwood houses trustees and better behaved prisoners, Cypress serves as the segregation unit, and Birch houses mentally ill, elderly, and physically handicapped prisoners.[1]

Notable employees
  • Shane Bauer, Mother Jones reporter and former detainee in Iran.[7] His article for Mother Jones, titled "My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard," exposes conditions at the facility that include violence among inmates, poor medical and mental healthcare for inmates, mismanagement and lack of training for CCA employees.[8] His memoir American Prison chronicled these experiences.[9]

References
  1. Bauer, Shane. "My four months as a private prison guard." Mother Jones. July/August 2016. Retrieved on June 27, 2016.
  2. "Winn Correctional Center." Corrections Corporation of America. March 9, 2015. Retrieved on October 10, 2018.
  3. "Louisiana Department of Corrections » Winn Correctional Center". doc.la.gov. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  4. "08-407 Corrections Services - Winn Correctional Center". doa.louisiana.gov. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  5. "CCA - Facility Spotlight". cca.com. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  6. http://www.winnparishenterprise.com/articles/2015/09/23/lasalle-corrections-take-over-winn-correctional-center-welcomed-rotary
  7. "CCA employee was undercover reporter." Winn Parish Reporter. Wednesday March 18, 2015. Retrieved on June 27, 2016.
  8. "My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard": Shane Bauer Goes Undercover to Expose Conditions. Democracy Now! June 27, 2016.
  9. Blakeslee, Nate (2018-10-01). "The Dickensian Conditions of Life in a For-Profit Lockup". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-10-10.

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