New law to release inmates 2022 Louisiana

Overview
On June 15, 2017, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed into law the most comprehensive criminal justice reform in the state’s history. The bipartisan package of 10 bills primarily focuses on non-violent, non-sex offenders and is designed to steer less serious offenders away from prison, strengthen alternatives to imprisonment, reduce prison terms for those who can be safely supervised in the community, and remove barriers to successful re-entry. 

The reforms should allow Louisiana to shed its status as the state with the nation’s highest imprisonment rate by the end of 2018. The state projects that the measures will reduce the prison and community supervision populations by 10 and 12 percent, respectively, over 10 years and avoid $262 million in spending. The state will reinvest an estimated $184 million of the savings in local programs to reduce recidivism and in services for crime victims.

Bipartisan Support for Popular Reforms
A bipartisan task force, whose membership included law enforcement, legislators, members of the state judiciary, as well as the business community, issued a report following the most in-depth study of our criminal justice system to date. The report made recommendations for the much needed legislative solutions.

The 10 bills passed by the legislature this year, included 7 bills by Republican legislators, emphasizing the broad, bipartisan support for the package.  The bill was supported by the conservative Louisiana Family Forum, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the District Attorney’s Association. In addition, 68% of Louisianans support bipartisan criminal justice reform.

  The House and Senate votes for S.B. 139 (the bill that includes changes to parole and good time) were not particularly close votes.  It had strong bipartisan support, and passed by 26-11 in the Senate, 75-30 in the House, and then 20-13 in the Senate concurrence.

Reforms that Work
Louisiana is the latest state to enact such reforms; many others, including Southern states such as Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, have experienced simultaneous drops in their crime and imprisonment rates.

• Texas:  Since their 2007 reforms, the imprisonment rate is down 16%, and crime is down 30%.
• South Carolina:  Since their 2010 reforms, their imprisonment rate is down 16%, and crime is down 16%.
• North Carolina:  Since their 2011 reforms, their imprisonment rate is down 3% and crime is down 20%.
• Georgia:  Since their 2012 reforms, their imprisonment rate is down 7% and crime is down 11%.

These editorials from The Advocate and The Times Picayune can provide some insight into why this is an big issue for Louisiana.  You can also check out the national news coverage in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Implementation
Starting on Nov. 1, these reforms will begin to go into effect following extreme oversight and with the careful review of each offender’s individual record prior to early release.

95% of all offenders in Louisiana are released under current law. On average, under the new law, offenders will be released 8 weeks earlier than originally scheduled to be released and include only non-violent offenders.  

Anyone who did not previously have a release date would not qualify for one as a result of the reforms.

All qualifying offenders were either already participating in or moved to a re-entry facility for recidivism reducing programming prior to release.

Louisiana is at the top of the list for per capita incarceration rates. A new bill was proposed that, if passed, would give some inmates the opportunity for a second chance. 

Introduced by New Orleans Representative Royce Duplessis (D), House Bill 730 would allow eligible inmates who were sentenced to life without parole the chance to appeal their case before a parole board. 

HB730 would “allow certain persons with fixed sentences to be eligible for parole consideration after a certain time period, allow certain persons serving life sentences to be eligible for parole consideration after a certain time period and upon certain conditions, remove certain prohibitions against eligibility for parole consideration, provide for parole eligibility for juvenile offenders, [and] provide relative to hearings to determine parole eligibility for certain juvenile offenders.”

Edgar Cage, a leader of the advocacy group Together Louisiana says that Louisiana has the toughest sentencing in the U.S. 

“We have a higher percentage of people on life without parole than four or five other states combined,” Cage stated. 

He said many inmates that the bill would affect have most likely received excessive sentences.

“One case that really got to me was this family out of New Orleans who had to evacuate because of Katrina. They had a young child, an infant, who had some illnesses, and this infant required this specialized formula," Cage said. "When they evacuated, they went to Shreveport. They lost contact with the doctor who would normally prescribe the formula, and they couldn’t get it.”

“The child eventually died because it didn’t get the proper formula and the nutrition that it needed. Both the mother and the father were convicted of second-degree murder, and they’re now serving life without parole. The other two children that they had ultimately became wards of the state,” he explained.

Cage says that Together Louisiana’s research shows that less than two percent of people over 50 commit a new crime after release. Once someone gets to 60, the rate drops down to zero percent.

He also said the bill would not only benefit the inmates, but taxpayers as well.

“We have people sitting in jail now that we are paying millions of dollars to house that pose no threat to public safety,” Cage said. 

Cage stressed that the bill is not a “get out of jail free card,” but rather an opportunity for people convicted of non-violent offenses, low-level offenses, or people sentenced as juveniles to prove that they would become productive members of society.

“Let’s not just rehabilitate them and have them sit there for nothing,” he said. “It’s a waste of resources to do that, and it’s a waste of the human element and capital that could be utilized better on the outside.”

LSU Social Work student Lauren Primeaux is also working with Together Louisiana to advocate for this bill. 

“I feel like it’s hard for students to speak up about certain things, or maybe they feel like there’s not an avenue for them to get involved,” Primeaux said.

She said it’s easier to get involved than you might think. Students can call or email their legislators, join advocacy groups or show up to events if they want to show their support. 

Her goal is to help students understand how legislation works and how they can make a difference.

“You get to impact people’s lives in a huge way, and you get to actually take part in making a change,” Primeaux said. “That’s a really valuable thing in the end.”

Together Louisiana and Primeaux are planning to hold an event at Free Speech Alley Friday to spread awareness about the new bill and what changes it might bring. 

The bill will have to pass when it is heard by the House Committee on Criminal Justice before it moves on to the Louisiana House of Representatives. 

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