BATON ROUGE — The head of Louisiana's prison system acknowledged Monday that there were likely "a handful of bad employees" within the organization but that the bulk of those assigned to prisons were dedicated to caring for incarcerated individuals.

At a news conference regarding the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, Secretary Gary Westcott criticized recent media coverage of deaths at the prison and challenged reporting about a series of recent unexpected deaths.

"Everyone at the Department of Public Safety and Corrections truly care for the incarcerated individuals that we are charged to secure and care for, and we take that responsibility seriously," Westcott said. 

"Unexpected does not mean overdose. We did not have three overdoses this month as one media outlet suggested," he said. "Unexpected medical issues and suspected overdoses are all labeled unexpected until an autopsy is completed."

WBRZ has reported on numerous problems at the facility dating to August 2024. Since September 23, 2025, there have been 17 deaths at Elayn Hunt. Earlier in December 2025, the Department of Corrections said it "acknowledges that the correctional facility has seen an uptick in unexpected deaths over the last several months."

Three people recently died at the facility within the span of a few days, with two people dying on Jan. 25 and another person on Jan. 27. 

WBRZ's Investigative Unit previously reported on multiple deaths at the facility linked to drugs being prepared inside the prison.

Westcott said recent deaths could be blamed on an "aging and ailing population at the prison" and the same types of illnesses and conditions seen in the free world. He also said Elayn Hunt was not unique, with prison systems elsewhere dealing a lack of adequate staffing, contraband and questions from the media.

He also said that if the sources the media are using for stories are located within the walls, they had an obligation to involve prison management — or, worse, may be involved in illegal activity themselves. "Some guards are there for the wrong reason," he said.

"They're not trying to stop it because these sources are probably the ones engaging in criminal activity, telling you all and us to look to the left while they are operating on the right," Westcott said.