On October 21, 2025, a federal jury in the United States District Court, Western District of Louisiana, awarded $42.75 million to the family of Erie Moore Sr., who died in 2015 from injuries sustained while incarcerated at Richwood Correctional Center, a for-profit prison operated by LaSalle Management Company.
The verdict, which includes $19.5 million for wrongful death and $23.25 million in punitive damages, found LaSalle Management Company, Richwood Correctional Center, and three employees liable for Moore’s death.
Erie Moore Sr. was arrested on October 12, 2015, by the Monroe Police Department for disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor charge. Security camera footage from Richwood Correctional Center shows Moore being booked into the facility at approximately 7:45 a.m. and placed in an isolation lockdown cell.
Later that evening, around 9 p.m., Moore was joined in the cell by Vernon White, who had been involved in a separate altercation elsewhere in the facility.
According to the lawsuit filed by Moore’s family in 2016, correctional officers responded to a fight between Moore and White by using excessive force, including mace and an impact weapon.
Footage revealed Moore being sprayed multiple times, thrown onto his head, and struck repeatedly. Max Schoening, the plaintiff’s trial lawyer, stated, “His head was filling up with blood from a fatal head injury that he suffered at the hands of the guards inside that jail.”
Moore died a month later, on November 14, 2015, from a hematoma, which the Ouachita Parish coroner ruled a homicide caused by head injuries.
The two-week trial exposed significant issues at Richwood Correctional Center. The plaintiffs argued that LaSalle Management Company failed to oversee its officers, allowing unchecked use of excessive force.
The defense countered that Moore was non-compliant with staff and that the timing of his fatal injury was unclear, also suggesting Moore could have faced a homicide charge related to his altercation with White. However, the jury rejected these claims, holding the facility, its operator, and three employees civilly liable.
