We are relentless advocates against injustice, working to free our clients from prison and support them in freedom.

ABOUT

Innocence & Justice Louisiana

(Formerly Innocence Project New Orleans)

We are the only nonprofit law firm in Louisiana focused on post-conviction relief representation and long-term support after release. We also drive systemic reform – challenging the laws and practices that have made Louisiana the most incarcerated place on Earth.

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POST-CONVICTION INNOCENCE CASES

Fighting for the Innocent

We represent people who have been wrongfully convicted and sent to prison, often for the rest of their lives. These innocent people are not provided legal teams by the state of Louisiana. Our attorneys and investigators fight to free the innocent by uncovering new evidence, exposing misconduct, and exonerating them.

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UNJUST PUNISHMENT CASES

Fighting for the Unjustly Punished

Louisiana’s criminal legal system incarcerates more people per capita—and sentences more to life without parole—than any other place in the world. Harsh three-strikes laws, accomplice liability rules, and mandatory minimums impose extreme prison sentences without accounting for a person’s actual role in the crime or their capacity for growth and rehabilitation. At Innocence & Justice Louisiana, we fight to free the unjustly punished by challenging excessive sentences, litigating our clients’ rights to new sentences, representing them before the parole board, and uncovering new evidence that sheds light on their right to be free.

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Since 2001, we have freed 1 people who were innocent or unjustly punished.

Meet our Clients

Louisiana’s habitual offender laws grew out of the state’s Slave Code and continue to drive racial injustice: % of people serving enhanced sentences under these laws are Black.

In almost % of Louisiana exonerations, police or prosecutors illegally withheld evidence.

Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration of anywhere in the world and nearly twice that of the United States as a whole.

Louisiana has the highest rate of people serving life without parole in the United States and in the world.

Wrongful convictions in Louisiana disproportionately harm Black people – % of the state is Black; % of proven wrongful convictions are of Black people, including % of wrongfully convicted children.

Louisiana Justice Issues

NEWS & EVENTS

Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Join us in the fight for a more just system.

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