Captive State
Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration
Learn how the institutions of slavery and mass incarceration are historically linked, and how these connections have made Louisiana the world leader in incarceration today.
520 Royal Street
Tricentennial Wing
3rd and 2nd Floors
Louisiana’s present-day distinction as the world’s incarceration capital is rooted in three centuries of history. Throughout this history, people in power have used systems of enslavement and incarceration to hold others captive for punishment, control, and exploitation. Black Louisianians have suffered disproportionately under these systems. Through historical objects, textual interpretation, multimedia, and data visualization, Captive State investigates these throughlines and arrives at an irrefutable truth: that the institutions of slavery and mass incarceration are historically linked.
Captive State tells this story in two parts. The first part outlines how Louisiana’s colonial and early American governments created race-based systems of oppression through legislation, policing, imprisonment, and violence that matured as New Orleans became the hub of the domestic slave trade. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery except as punishment for a crime, permitted Louisiana to evolve its methods of racial control and embrace convict leasing and forced prison labor, particularly at a plantation known as Angola.
The second part of the exhibition traces how the Louisiana Constitution of 1898, written to maintain white supremacy, enabled an era of mass incarceration in the 20th and 21st centuries. Through nonunanimous jury verdicts and “tough on crime” legislation, incarceration rates skyrocketed, with far-reaching impacts. Among them are the growing number of people serving life sentences without parole. This has resulted in an aging state prison population, making the work of incarcerated volunteers in the hospice program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary essential. Lori Waselchuck photographed this program in Grace Before Dying, displayed in the mezzanine of the Tricentennial Wing.
The exhibition concludes with a reflection question, reading recommendations, and information on ways to get involved on issues related to mass incarceration. Compiled by the exhibition’s curators, these opportunities are available on our Captive State Resources page.
Advisory Committee
Captive State was made with the generous support and contributions of several individuals and organizations. HNOC staff are grateful for the many hours of conversation, tours, and advice from people who have been impacted by incarceration and those whose work touches the history and current operations of the criminal legal system.
Among these important contributions, HNOC would like to specifically acknowledge the dedicated work of the Captive State Advisory Board.
HNOC acknowledges the dedicated work of the Captive State Advisory Board:
- Andrea Armstong, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
- John Bardes, Louisiana State University
- Montrell Carmouche, Operation Restoration
- Anthony Hingle Jr., Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) and the Visiting Room Project
- Katie Hunter-Lowrey, organizer and survivor of violence
- Jee Park, Innocence Project New Orleans
HNOC also wishes to thank the Promise of Justice Initiative, Visiting Room Project, Vera Institute of Justice, the family of Shawn Duncan, the family of Cayne Miceli, Sara Gozalo, Curtis Davis, Alvin Reliford, Engrid Hamilton, Beasy Taylor, Derrick Fruga, Steven Garner, Kenneth Woodburn, Theortric Givens, Steven Garner, Daryl Waters, Marcus Kondkar, Annie Nisenson, Sophie Cull, Marianne Fisher-Giorlando, Mary Howell, Dominique Dollenmayer, Christian Henrichson, Lee Wyma, Laura Blereau, Sarah Pharaon, Sean Kelley, Lauren Zalut, and Susie Penman.
HNOC thanks our Captive State curatorial team for their efforts to make the exhibition possible through working with our community partners:
- Eric Seiferth, HNOC Curator/Historian, exhibition curator
- Kevin T. Harrell, HNOC Collections Cataloger, exhibition curator
- Katherine Jolliff Dunn, HNOC Curatorial Cataloger, exhibition curatorial assistant
Video: Does Mass Incarceration Make Us Safer?
Learn about the making of HNOC’s Captive State exhibition and new companion book in this video narratived by Anthony J. Hingle Jr. a formerly-incarcerated activist with Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) and the Visiting Room Project.
Awards
Captive State received a Gold Exhibition Award, Gold Technology Award, and Silver Technology Award from the 2025 Southeastern Museums Conference and the John Thompson Award for Courage & Justice from Innocence & Justice Louisiana.
Support
Captive State is made possible with support from media partner WWL-TV and exhibition program partner Spark Justice Fund at Borealis Philanthropy.
Related Books
Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration
by Eric Seiferth, Katherine Jolliff Dunn, and Kevin T. Harrell (curators) and Nick Weldon (editor)
Related Stories
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Louisiana’s travelling electric chair, and the shift from public to private executions
Processing Hope and Loss in the Prison Portraits of “One Big Self”
Deborah Luster’s portrait series, taken inside prisons across Louisiana, confronts viewers with the human lives at stake in the incarceration capital of the world.
Related Collection Highlights
“Vernon C. Bain” Christening Ceremony Video
When New York City’s war on drugs sent incarceration rates soaring, officials commissioned a floating jail built and christened downriver from New Orleans.
The Mysterious Axman’s Jazz
At the turn of the 20th century, a music-loving serial killer proclaimed that only jazz lovers would be safe from his reign of terror.
Hospital Banner Newsletters
An unusual periodical, written and produced by residents of the state mental hospital in the mid-20th century
Related News
Louisiana Weekly: HNOC Receives LEH Award for Louisiana Mass Incarceration Exhibit
WWL-TV: Inside a New Exhibit on Mass Incarceration
HNOC Awarded John Thompson Award for Courage & Justice
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