The Bail Project – Baton Rouge serves people incarcerated at the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail in the 19th Judicial Court, Baton Rouge City Court, Baker City Court, and Zachary City Court court systems.
By the latest count, the state of Louisiana continues to have one of the highest rates of incarceration in the country. At the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, where 89 percent of people are detained before they’ve been convicted of anything, 25 people died between 2012 and 2016. That’s a mortality rate four times higher than the national average. The parish is among the busiest incarcerators in the state.
By partnering with the Baton Rouge public defender’s bond team, Voice of the Experienced, and the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition, we are leveraging bail reduction motions to ensure the safe release of hundreds of people.
In Louisiana, prosecutors can hold people who can’t afford bail in jail for up to two months without officially charging them.
Black and Latinx people represent over 75% of the people in Baton Rouge’s jail, despite comprising only 45% of the general population.
On any given day, 20% of the people in Baton Rouge’s jail have been identified as having a serious mental illness, with the number increasing yearly in part due to psychiatric hospital closures.
25 people died at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison between 2012 and 2016, a jail death rate four times above the national average.
Need help paying bail in Baton Rouge? Please fill out the form below and a Bail Disruptor will get back to you soon.