Our Foundation
Opening in 1997, the Museum at the Louisiana State Penitentiary was established to preserve the long and storied history of crime, punishment, rehabilitation, criminal justice, and reform in Louisiana. The museum hosts thousands of visitors annually from all fifty states and many countries serving as an institution for learning and discussion on the impacts of corrections, criminal justice, and reform.
The Louisiana Prison Museum & Cultural Center is supported by its foundation, the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum Foundation.
With a history and lore as notorious as Alcatraz and Eastern State Penitentiary, the Louisiana Prison Museum & Cultural Center stands alone with the monumental and humbling task of documenting living history inside the country’s largest maximum-security prison.
Our Mission
Our mission is to captivate visitors with a cultural experience that includes dialogue about the complex and compelling stories of corrections and justice in Louisiana.
Our Goals are to:
Document and preserve by sharing the history and development of corrections and justice in Louisiana.
Provide engaging learning experiences through meaningful and interactive exhibits and programs.
Humanize the stories of individuals navigating the criminal justice system by becoming a prominent voice for the incarcerated, corrections professionals, victims/survivors, families and communities in the national conversation about social and criminal justice.
Learn from the past by displaying perspective not only about prison life, but the local culture and its significance in the development of Corrections in Louisiana.
Strategic Plan
Annual Reports
In an effort to promote transparency and accountability regarding our efforts held in the public trust, we publish an annual report to publicly disclose our activities and accomplishments.
Annual Report Fiscal Year 2021-2022
Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2020-21
Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2019-20
Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2018-19
Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2017-18
Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2016-17
IRS Form 990 Filings
To further our efforts of transparency and accountability, we encourage interested individuals to view our tax filings using the Nonprofit Explorer Tool provided by ProPublica, an independent investigative journalism nonprofit.