David Wade Correctional Center

David Wade Correctional Center (DWCC) is a Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections prison located in an unincorporated area of Claiborne Parish between Homer and Haynesville, Louisiana.^[1][2] The prison is located near the Louisiana-Arkansas border.^[3]

The N-5 Special Management Unit, which as of 2001 holds some fifty prisoners, is a special protection unit for prisoners at risk. The unit houses former prison officials, convicted ex-police officers from New Orleans, contract killers, pedophiles, and young people with life sentences.^[3]

Wade opened in 1980.^[4] Thirty-nine percent of the beds at Wade are "maximum custody."^[5]

As is typical of prisons in rural areas, many of the correctional officers who work at Wade are from the local Haynesville-Homer area.^[6]

History

According to police, in July 2017 a prisoner kidnapped the daughter of the warden, and the kidnapping resulted in her death. The inmate died during a shootout with prison guards.^[7]

David Wade

The prison is named for Lieutenant General David Wade, who was reared in Claiborne Parish. Wade procured more than a dozen medals in three wars and served in the administration of Governor John McKeithen as the state corrections director after he retired from military service in 1967.^[8]

Wade was born in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish, which had been created in 1871 from Claiborne Parish. He was reared in the Holly Springs community located off U.S. Highway 79 between Minden and Homer. He procured the Bachelor of Science in engineering from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. He entered the United States Army and served thereafter in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In February 1935, Wade launched what became a 32-year military career when he enlisted as a cadet in the United States Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the Air Force.^[9]

On August 1, 1963, Wade was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed command of SAC's Second Air Force with headquarters then at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, some fifty miles west of his hometown of Homer, Louisiana.^[10]

After Wade's military retirement, Governor John J. McKeithen named him in 1967 as the director of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, with authority over both state police and prisons. From 1968 to 1972, he was the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard.^[8]

Notable warden

• Richard Stalder

Notable inmates

• C. Murray Henderson, a former warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) who was convicted of attempting to murder his wife^[3]
• Billy Sinclair, a prison journalist, former co-editor of The Angolite, and author - originally incarcerated in the Louisiana State Penitentiary for murder.^[3]
• Luis Quintero-Cruz and Bernardo Vasquez, two of the three members of the assassination squad sent by Pablo Escobar to kill Barry Seal.
• Ernest Comeaux, a former sheriff's detective who was for many years a serial rapist. At one point he was involved in the investigation of his own crimes.
• Sam Teague, a former teacher, church youth leader, and infamous pedophile. He wrote a young-adult fiction book, The King of Hearts' Heart, published by Little, Brown & Company in 1987.^[11][12]

References

External links

• "David Wade Correctional Center." Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections prisons
State prisons	Avoyelles Correctional Center B.B. Rayburn Correctional Center David Wade Correctional Center Dixon Correctional Institute Elayn Hunt Correctional Center Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women♀ Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola)
Private prisons	Allen Correctional Center Winn Correctional Center
Former prisons	C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center Forcht-Wade Correctional Center J. Levy Dabadie Correctional Center
Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀ (female-only)

Coordinates: 32°54′07″N 93°01′10″W / 32.90194°N 93.01944°W / 32.90194; -93.01944