Arrest Records for St. Landry Parish, Louisiana

Arrest records in St. Landry Parish flow through two separate systems: the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court, located at 118 S. Court St. in Opelousas, holds the court-side docket entries for felony and misdemeanor cases filed in the 27th Judicial District Court. The Saint Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office maintains the booking-side records. The Clerk’s office can be reached at 337-942-5606 during weekday business hours. Louisiana does not operate a single statewide trial-court search portal, so records checks for St. Landry Parish must go directly to these local offices or to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections for state-prison records.

If someone you know was just booked tonight, our St. Landry Parish inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.

Searching for records beyond Louisiana

A St. Landry Parish records check covers cases filed in this parish only. If the person you’re researching has lived in Evangeline, Acadia, or St. Martin Parish — or in other states — a nationwide database search may surface records that local portals don’t show. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.

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How to look up arrest records in St. Landry Parish

Louisiana’s Public Records Law took effect decades ago and has governed access to government records ever since — including arrest records held by St. Landry Parish agencies. Under that framework, booking records, court dockets, and case dispositions are presumptively open to the public unless a specific exception applies.

The St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court at 118 S. Court St., Opelousas, LA 70570 is the primary source for court-side records. The Clerk’s office holds felony and misdemeanor case files for the 27th Judicial District Court. Call (337) 942-5606 to confirm current hours and any records-request fee before visiting. The office is open weekday business hours. Practical note: the building is large, and staff can help you navigate to the correct window. Certain transactions at the courthouse are cash-only, so bring cash as a backup. Arriving early improves your chances of finding nearby parking.

The Saint Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office holds booking-side records — the arrest report, booking date, charges at intake, and any booking photograph. These records originate at the parish jail and are separate from the Clerk’s court file. Contact the Sheriff’s Office directly to request a copy of a booking report; call to confirm the current records-request procedure and any associated fee.

For state prison records, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections maintains an inmate lookup for people currently or previously held in state custody. St. Landry Parish residents sentenced to state prison will appear there. The DOC’s facility-locations directory also lists the St. Landry Parish jail office address for DOC-supervised individuals housed locally.

Louisiana State Police maintains a background check service that can return a statewide criminal history record. This is a separate channel from the Clerk’s docket search and covers arrests across all Louisiana parishes, not just St. Landry. The LSP background check is the appropriate tool when you need a comprehensive statewide picture rather than a single-parish case lookup.

No online case-search portal specific to St. Landry Parish’s 27th Judicial District Court is confirmed as publicly accessible at this time. The Louisiana Department of Health’s directory entry for the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court provides contact information for the office. For the most current access options, call the Clerk at (337) 942-5606 before making the trip to Opelousas.

Are St. Landry Parish arrest records public?

“All books, records, writings, accounts, letters and letter books, maps, drawings, photographs, cards, tapes, recordings, memoranda, and papers” held by public bodies are presumptively open — that is the core command of La. R.S. 44:1, Louisiana’s Public Records Law. Arrest records generated by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office and case filings held by the Clerk of Court fall squarely within that definition.

Sealed records are the primary exception. Once a court grants an expungement under the state’s criminal-records statute, the record is removed from public view. The arresting agency and the Clerk must treat it as if it does not exist for public-records purposes. Law enforcement agencies retain access to sealed records for their own investigative and prosecutorial functions, but a member of the public requesting the same record will receive a response indicating no record exists.

Juvenile records carry a separate protection. Cases adjudicated in juvenile court are confidential by default under Louisiana’s Children’s Code. An adult arrest record is not shielded simply because the person was young at the time — the protection applies to juvenile court proceedings, not to adult criminal charges against young defendants.

Victim-protection redactions apply in certain cases. Names, addresses, and identifying information for crime victims — particularly in sexual-assault and domestic-violence matters — may be withheld from the public copy of a record even when the underlying case file is otherwise open. The redacted version of the record is still releasable; only the protected fields are removed.

Pending prosecutorial decisions can also affect what you see. An arrest that has not yet resulted in a charge being filed, or where the district attorney has not yet acted, may appear in booking records at the Sheriff’s Office but have no corresponding court file at the Clerk’s office yet. The two systems update on different timelines.

What’s in a St. Landry Parish arrest record?

Booking photograph, arrest date, charges at intake — those are the fields most people picture when they think of an arrest record. The Sheriff’s Office booking entry and the Clerk’s court docket are distinct documents, and they don’t always contain the same information.

The Sheriff’s Office booking record typically includes: the arrestee’s full name and date of birth, the booking date and time, the arresting agency (Sheriff, Opelousas PD, Eunice PD, or another St. Landry Parish municipality), the charges as written at intake, the assigned case or booking number, and the booking photograph. The charges listed at booking reflect what the arresting officer wrote — they may differ from what the district attorney ultimately files in court.

The Clerk of Court’s docket entry at the 27th Judicial District Court covers the court side of the same case. It includes the case number assigned by the court, the charges as formally filed by the district attorney, all hearing dates and minute entries, the attorney of record (if one has appeared), bond information set by the court, and the disposition — guilty plea, acquittal, dismissal, or conviction after trial. Dispositions are the most important field for a records-checker: an arrest without a conviction is a materially different record than a conviction, and the docket is where that distinction lives.

Regarding booking photographs: St. Landry Parish’s mugshot release policy for public requests is not posted online — call the Saint Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office to confirm whether booking photos are released on request and whether any fee applies. Some Louisiana sheriffs release photos routinely; others require a formal public-records request.

One practical note about the St. Landry Parish Courthouse: caps are not permitted inside the building, food and drink are prohibited, and phones must be silenced. Staff at the Clerk’s window can direct you to the correct counter for criminal records versus civil records — the building is large enough that asking for directions saves time.

How to expunge an arrest record in St. Landry Parish

Did the arrest end without a conviction — dismissed, acquitted, or refused by the district attorney? That outcome typically qualifies for expungement without any waiting period under Louisiana law. The path for a non-conviction is more straightforward than post-conviction sealing, and it’s worth understanding the difference before you file anything.

Non-conviction expungements cover arrests where charges were refused, dismissed, or resulted in acquittal. Louisiana law does not impose a waiting period for these cases. You can petition to seal the record as soon as the case closes. An arrest that was simply never prosecuted requires waiting for the prescriptive period to run before the petition is ripe — the specific period depends on the offense class, so confirm the applicable window with the Clerk or an attorney.

Post-conviction expungements require a waiting period measured from the completion of the sentence, probation, or parole — not from the conviction date. For a misdemeanor conviction, the wait is five years. For a felony conviction, the wait is ten years. A first marijuana-possession conviction has a shortened path: ninety days after completion of the sentence. A DWI resolved through pretrial diversion carries a five-year wait from the date of arrest, even though no conviction resulted.

The controlling statute is La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 971, which governs expungement of criminal records statewide. The petition is filed at the District Court for the parish where the case was originally heard — for St. Landry Parish cases, that means the 27th Judicial District Court through the Clerk of Court at 118 S. Court St., Opelousas. Call (225) 342-9500 to reach the Saint Landry Parish Courthouse and confirm current filing fees and the required petition forms.

The petition must be served on the district attorney and the arresting agency. Both have an opportunity to object. If no objection is filed within the statutory period, the court typically grants the expungement by order. If an objection is filed, a hearing is scheduled.

An indigency waiver is available for the filing fee. Ask the Clerk’s office about the fee-waiver process when you pick up the petition forms.

Self-represented petitioners can file without an attorney. The Clerk’s office can provide the forms, but staff cannot give legal advice. For guidance on eligibility or complex cases — prior convictions, multiple arrests, or cases involving article 893 or article 894 dismissals — the Louisiana State Bar Association attorney locator and the Louisiana Public Defender are the appropriate referral points.

After a court grants the expungement, the record is removed from public view. Law enforcement agencies retain access for their own purposes, but the public — including background-check requesters — will receive a response indicating no record exists. The expungement does not physically destroy the record; it restricts public access to it.

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Frequently asked questions about St. Landry Parish arrest records

How do I find out what’s on my St. Landry Parish arrest record before a court date or background check?

Request your own record from both the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court at 118 S. Court St., Opelousas (call (337) 942-5606 to confirm hours and any fee) and the Saint Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office for the booking-side entry. The Clerk holds the court docket — charges as filed, hearing dates, and disposition. The Sheriff holds the booking record — the arrest date, intake charges, and booking photograph. You can also request a statewide criminal history through Louisiana State Police, which covers all parishes, not just St. Landry. Confirm numbers and hours before visiting or calling.

Can I get a St. Landry Parish arrest record expunged, and how long does it take to qualify?

Eligibility depends on how the case resolved. An arrest that ended in dismissal, acquittal, or a refusal to prosecute carries no waiting period — you can petition to seal it as soon as the case closes. A misdemeanor conviction requires five years from the completion of the sentence, probation, or parole. A felony conviction requires ten years from that same endpoint. A first marijuana-possession conviction qualifies after ninety days. The petition is filed at the 27th Judicial District Court through the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court under La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 971. A fee-waiver is available for those who qualify financially. After the court grants the expungement, the record is removed from public view — law enforcement retains access, but the public does not.