# Louisiana Louisiana’s POST Council certifies sheriff’s deputies who handle inmates, the same body that certifies other peace officers. State prison officers are trained by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C). Since 2023 the State has required DPS&C to run mental health programs and, subject to funding, train staff, kept educational and religious materials available to people in solitary confinement, banned waist restraints and shackles on any pregnant prisoner, required pregnancy tests at jail and prison intake, and, from August 1, 2026, required custody deputies to be U.S. citizens. Source: https://uscli.org/corrections-tracker/louisiana ## At a glance - **Certifying body:** Council on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST Council), within the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement (LCLE). “Peace officer” includes sheriff’s deputies whose duties include the care, custody, and control of inmates ([R.S. 40:2402(3)](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=98233)), so POST certifies parish jail custody staff. The Council and its revocation powers are covered on the [Louisiana Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/louisiana). No statute was found placing DPS&C state prison correctional officers under POST certification; DPS&C trains them. - **Statute:** R.S. 40:2401 to 40:2405.10 (POST). Title 15: parish jails (15:701 et seq.), pregnant prisoners (15:744 to 744.9, the Safe Pregnancy for Incarcerated Women Act), DPS&C powers and duties (15:821 et seq.), and solitary confinement (15:865). - **Minimum standards:** A full-time peace officer, including a custody deputy, must complete a POST-approved training program and pass the POST exam within 1 year of hire, or may not exercise peace officer authority (administrative duties allowed). Part-time and reserve officers hired on or after January 1, 2022 have 3 years ([R.S. 40:2405(A)](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=98236)). Since August 1, 2026, custody deputies must be U.S. citizens (Acts 2026, No. 283; see the entry below). - **Basic training:** POST offers two corrections levels, both limited to officers whose duties include the care, custody, and control of inmates: Level 2 Basic Correctional Peace Officer, at least 249 hours with firearms qualification, and Level 3 Correctional Officer, at least 92 hours with no firearms qualification. Level 1 is the basic law enforcement course. Training is given at POST-accredited sheriff, regional, and agency academies ([LCLE POST program page](https://lcle.la.gov/programs/post/)). - **In-service training:** Level 1 and Level 2 certified officers need 20 hours each calendar year, starting the year after certification: 8 hours firearms, 4 officer survival, 2 legal updates, and 6 electives, plus annual firearms qualification. Missing the hours brings a 90-day suspension of certification; after that, POST’s FAQ says the certification “will be revoked,” and a refresher course is required. Level 3 (Correctional Officer) personnel are exempt from the 20-hour requirement ([POST in-service requirements and FAQ](https://lcle.la.gov/programs/post/post-inservice-training-requirements/)). - **Decertification:** Same rules as other peace officers ([Officer Ledger](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/louisiana)). Revocation is mandatory on a conviction for malfeasance in office or for an offense that takes away the right to bear arms. The Council may revoke after a hearing, with 30 days’ notice, when an officer was terminated (after exhausting administrative remedies), or allowed to retire or resign, as a result of discipline for conduct in the course and scope of employment that would constitute an unreasonable use of force; and for a domestic abuse battery misdemeanor or any felony, failure to complete required training, voluntary surrender, or a judicial disposition ([R.S. 40:2405(J)](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=98236)). No public decertification list was found. - **Jail standards:** No independent state jail standards body. Parish governing authorities maintain parish jails (R.S. 15:702). DPS&C basic jail guidelines govern parish jails that house state inmates, and DPS&C had to work with sheriffs to amend them by December 31, 2020 to provide treatment and educational programming ([R.S. 15:824(B)(1)(a)(ii)](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=79341)). DPS&C’s annual report to the governor must include the results of inspections of local detention and correctional facilities (R.S. 15:827(A)(2)). - **Probation and parole officers:** Adult probation and parole officers are DPS&C employees. Parole officers “shall be deemed to be peace officers” with the same criminal-law powers as sheriffs and police ([R.S. 15:574.8(A)](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=79248)). Read with R.S. 40:2405, that would bring them under the POST training and exam requirement; no statute specific to probation and parole officer training was found. - **Restrictive housing:** R.S. 15:865 bars solitary confinement in the state penitentiary except to enforce obedience to its police regulations. A prisoner who is pregnant, less than 8 weeks past medical release after a pregnancy, or caring for a child in the institution may not be placed in solitary unless the prisoner committed violence likely to cause serious bodily injury or death, or there is reasonable cause to believe solitary is needed to reduce a substantial risk of imminent serious bodily injury or death to another, as shown by the prisoner’s recent conduct. Since August 1, 2025, people in solitary keep access to educational and religious materials, with listed exceptions ([R.S. 15:865](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=79426)). - **Corrections use of force:** For pregnant prisoners in the second and third trimesters, restraints must be the least restrictive, and an electronic restraint belt, handcuffing behind the back, leg irons, and face-down positioning are never allowed (R.S. 15:744.2). During labor and delivery, only medically ordered therapeutic restraints (flex cuffs or soft restraints) may be used. Other restraints during pregnancy-related distress, medical transport, or postpartum recovery require compelling grounds and must be the least restrictive. Waist restraints and shackles may never be used on a pregnant prisoner ([R.S. 15:744.3](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=814509)). Each use of restraints must be recorded within 10 days and kept 5 years, open to public inspection with identifying information redacted (R.S. 15:744.7). Unreasonable force is a POST revocation ground (R.S. 40:2405(J)(2)(a)). ## Changes, 2023 to 2026 - Aug 1, 2026 — **Peace officers, including jail custody deputies, must be U.S. citizens** — Acts 2026, No. 283 (HB 39), amending R.S. 40:2402(3) and enacting 40:2402(5) · Approved May 22, 2026; effective August 1, 2026 (regular-session default date; the act has no effective-date section) — The act renumbers the peace officer definitions into items (i) to (vi) and provides that a peace officer described in items (i), (ii), (iv), (v), and (vi) “shall be a United States citizen.” Item (ii) is sheriff’s deputies whose duties include the care, custody, and control of inmates. Military Department police in item (iii) are not covered. Uncodified section 2 lets currently employed lawful permanent residents keep serving if they become citizens by August 1, 2031. The [Officer Ledger entry](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/louisiana#act-283-2026) covers the act for all peace officers. — **For corrections staff:** Sheriffs may not hire noncitizens as custody deputies; a lawful permanent resident already serving must become a citizen by August 1, 2031. — [Act 283 (2026)](https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1479513)[HB 39 (2026) bill page](https://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=26RS&b=HB39&sbi=y) - May 29, 2026 — **Shackles banned for every pregnant prisoner; intake pregnancy tests in every jail and prison** — Acts 2026, No. 520 (SB 470), amending R.S. 15:744.3 and 744.5(2), enacting 744.5(7) and 744.9, and amending C.Cr.P. arts. 893(A)(5), 894.1(B)(34), and 894.6 · Effective on the governor’s signature (section 4); May 29, 2026 per the legislature’s digest and the R.S. 15:744.3 history note — Therapeutic restraints allowed during labor and delivery are now defined as flex cuffs or soft restraints, replacing the prior exclusion of metal handcuffs and shackles. The ban on waist restraints and shackles now covers every pregnant prisoner at all times, not only during medical transport or postpartum recovery. Postpartum now means at least 6 weeks after childbirth, extendable by the treating medical professional. Every state and local correctional facility, including parish and municipal jails and detention centers, must offer a pregnancy test at intake to each woman aged 55 or younger who is arrested and taken into custody, and must document consent or refusal and the result. Courts may consider pregnancy at sentencing. — **For corrections staff:** Never use waist restraints or shackles on a pregnant prisoner. During labor, use only medically ordered flex cuffs or soft restraints. Use other restraints only on compelling grounds and in the least restrictive manner. — [Act 520 (2026)](https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1480220)[SB 470 résumé digest](https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1483938)[R.S. 15:744.3](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=814509) - Aug 1, 2025 — **People in solitary confinement keep access to educational and religious materials** — Acts 2025, No. 278 (HB 457), enacting R.S. 15:865(D) and (E) · Effective August 1, 2025 (regular-session default date; the act has no effective-date section) — A prisoner placed in solitary confinement in a penal or correctional institution must have access to the educational training and materials, or religious materials, that the prisoner would have in the least restrictive housing at the institution. The governing authority or its designee may deny access on finding that it presents a security risk, is not feasible because of the program’s nature, or is incongruous with the reason for the placement. Educational training covers any program offered, including career and technical education, special education, high school equivalency preparation, literacy, adult basic education, and degree programs. — **For corrections staff:** Keep program and religious materials available to people in solitary unless a security, feasibility, or incongruity determination is made. — [Act 278 (2025)](https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1425592)[R.S. 15:865](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=79426) - Aug 1, 2023 — **DPS&C must run mental health programs and train employees yearly in Mental Health First Aid** — Acts 2023, No. 214 (HB 55), Mental Healing Justice for Incarcerated People Act, amending R.S. 15:830(A) to (C) and enacting (D) and (E) · Effective August 1, 2023, per the legislature’s résumé digest — DPS&C mental health resources and programs become mandatory: “shall” replaces “may.” Subject to appropriation, DPS&C must screen people entering state prisons for mental health disorders at intake and “shall provide Mental Health First Aid training to employees on an annual basis.” Any staff member who suspects that an incarcerated person has a mental illness may refer the person to the facility’s mental health department. Before release, people diagnosed with serious mental illness get a community provider appointment or walk-in instructions where feasible. — **For corrections staff:** DPS&C staff are to receive Mental Health First Aid training each year, subject to funding, and may refer anyone they suspect has a mental illness to facility mental health staff. — [Act 214 (2023)](https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1332275)[HB 55 résumé digest](https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1332893)[R.S. 15:830](https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=79354) ## Enacted, not yet in force, pending, and bills that did not pass - **Peace officer definition (from January 1, 2027):** Acts 2026, No. 866 (HB 1038) re-enacts R.S. 40:2402(3)(b) so that (b)(i) covers sheriff’s deputies whose duties include the care, custody, and control of inmates and (b)(ii) covers deputy marshals. Act 283 separately made (3)(b) the citizenship clause. How the two numbering schemes will be reconciled is not known; custody deputies remain peace officers under both. See the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/louisiana). [Act 866 (2026)](https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1481497) A search for failed 2023 to 2026 corrections bills was not completed: the legislature’s bill search could not be queried. Entries for acts without an effective-date section use the regular-session default date of August 1. The legislature’s statute pages say they are updated through the 2025 First Extraordinary Session, although some 2026 changes already appear, so other 2026 acts may not yet show in the posted statutes. ## Checked and unchanged - Not counted here: 2024 and 2025 POST acts that changed R.S. 40:2405 for all peace officers (part-time and reserve deadlines, auxiliary officers). They are entries on the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/louisiana). - R.S. 15:574.8(A), 15:702, 15:824(B)(1)(a)(ii), 15:827(A)(2), 15:744.2, and 15:744.7 were checked against the posted text; no 2023 to 2026 change to the provisions summarized above was found. - Not counted: the R.S. 15:824 history note lists Acts 2026, No. 530, and the current text sets the per diem paid to sheriffs for state inmates in parish jails. Whether Act 530 made that change was not confirmed from the act text. - Not verified: DPS&C state prison officer academy hours, POST rules in LAC 22:III for corrections levels, and a cross-gender search rule in R.S. 15:892.1(C), which could not be opened for checking.