VERNON PARISH, La. (KPLC) - Vernon Parish Sheriff Sam Craft is getting a big honor - he’s set to be inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame.
“It is indeed an honor, and I’m privileged, undeserving, also,” Craft said. “I want to give all the credit to the good Lord up above for his guiding graces, to a loving and very supportive wife and family members, and to the best employees that anybody could possibly hope to have.”
Craft has been in law enforcement for 40 years and the Sheriff of Vernon Parish for the past 26 years. He says it’s the people around him that inspire him every day.
“I’m always proud to say that the men and women of this department: they don’t worry about punching a clock, they don’t worry about what time it is, it don’t matter that it’s their day off, they have always stood and rose to the occasion and just made me very proud to work alongside them,” Craft said.
Currently on his fourth term as sheriff, Craft is the 17th sheriff in parish history. He said it makes him smile just thinking of what it took his predecessors to lay the path for him.
“I just always enjoy looking at those pictures and imagining what some of them went through. Riding horseback, horse and buggy,” Craft said. “I like to reminisce about what they went through, that I was allowed to come along and follow them.”
Craft said everyone has a shot at redemption.
“To those who are in trouble and to the family members, you don’t give up on your family member, and you don’t give up on yourself,” Craft said. “Because as long as you’re willing, you can turn it around.”
The Hall of Fame has been around since 2005 and was established by the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum Foundation.
Craft will be honored at the 2026 Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on June 5, 2026, at the LSU Lod Cook Center.
He will be joining fellow 2026 inductees:
- Liz Murrill, Attorney General of Louisiana
- Brandon J. Fremin, former U.S. Attorney
- Judge Loren M. Lampert, of the 9th Judicial District Court
- John E. Ballance, Sheriff of Bienville Parish; and Ernest “Bim” Coulberston
- Chief of Police and Town Marshal of Farmerville.