The son of Sheldon Perry Prator, Prator's paternal roots are in Cass County, in east Texas. His grandparents were Joseph Bell Prator and the former Erne Ruth Simpson. He has a brother, David Perry Prator of Kingwood, Texas. He is married to the former Carolyn Craig and has three children. He was born in Clarksville in Montgomery County in northern Tennessee.
In 1973, Prator became a Shreveport police officer. In 1990, Hazel Beard, the first Republican mayor of Shreveport since Reconstruction, named Prator chief of police, an appointive position. In 1999, he stepped down as police chief to run for sheriff, when the incumbent Don Hathaway did not seek a sixth four-year in office. Prator was elected to the first of his thus far four terms in that position. In that first campaign, Prator led with 37,739 votes, compared to 13,858 for the Democrat Marshall W. Nelson, and 1,921 votes for the No-Party candidate, Robert N. Creamer. Creamer also ran against Prator in 2003. Prator's term began on July 1, 2000, when Don Hathaway retired after twenty years as sheriff. Upon taking office, Prator streamlined certain operations and saved $3 million in expenses. Prator introduced "community-oriented policing" and developed a network of volunteer programs. He opened the first centers to deal with juvenile truancy, including a temporary holding facility. He supported the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in public schools, which Hathaway had first instituted in Shreveport. Prator established bicycle patrols, neighborhood watch teams, and a drug interdiction unit. He developed a work-release program for inmates at the Caddo Correctional Center. Prator is a member of the Louisiana Sheriff's Association, Cops for Christ, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He was named in 2008, along with his then colleague, Larry Deen, former sheriff of Bossier Parish, to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice, a multi-agency program. Prator is active in the Louisiana State Fair Board, the LSUS Foundation, and the Norwela Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Prator was instrumental in the establishment of "Safety Town" located between Walker Road and Jewella Avenue near the South Park Summer Grove Baptist Church. "Safety Town" teaches children how to avoid danger and how to protect their own safety. Bob Griffin of KTBS-TV and KEEL has worked with Prator to promote the project. In 2014, Prator launched a program to train children between eight and twelve years of age in gun safety. The course is taught at a gun safety camp sponsored by the sheriff's department. In the election held on October 22, 2011, Prator defeated the Democratic candidate, Craig Smith, 37,799 to 10,216. Robert Creamer did not file for the position though he had indicated that he had planned to do so. On July 1, 2014, Prator took on the role of director of the Caddo Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, a state agency responsible for disaster and emergency preparedness and response efforts. Previously Caddo and Bossier parishes had operated a mutual Homeland Security office, but Bossier Parish elected to establish its own facility. The sheriff's office will fund the Homeland Security office for Caddo Parish. Prator won a fifth term as sheriff in the primary election held on October 24, 2015. He defeated the Democrat Eric Hatfield, 37,112 votes to 13,561. Prator drew criticism for holding a press conference on October 5, 2017 in which he complained that new legislation aimed at reducing the prison population would harm his office's bottom line by causing the system to lose "the ones you can work". One of the critics of the sheriff's comments was ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie Esman, who said in a release, "Jails are not supposed to incarcerate people just because they need work done - that is slavery".
