Every region of Louisiana is harmed by mass incarceration: nearly every parish has a pretrial incarceration rate above the national average, and dozens of parishes send people to prison at rates above the national average. The prevalence of incarceration is hard to see in many places, owing to an alarming lack of transparency and data, as well as a convoluted carceral landscape where jails also function as prisons. But parish and state-level research by Vera aims to clarify this picture.
State policy plays a major role in driving mass incarceration—as evidenced by a decrease in the state’s prison population that resulted, in part, from the 2017 Justice Reinvestment Package. However, state-level reform alone is insufficient. Significant progress on justice reform requires change at the local level: arrest and pretrial detention are the “front door” to mass incarceration and decisions by local police, prosecutors, and judges dictate how many people are put behind bars and for how long. Local jails also play a part in state prison incarceration: After a federal court ordered Louisiana to address prison overcrowding in the 1990s, many sheriffs expanded their jails, enabling them to receive revenue from the state for holding people sentenced to prison. As a result, many sheriffs are now reliant on these funds to support oversized jails. Given the role of local decisionmakers in dictating the use of jails and prisons, local governments have the power to scale back the use of incarceration and implement evidence-based solutions that will help Louisiana’s communities thrive.
Every parish is part of the state’s vast network of jails and prisons. There are more than 230 jails and prisons statewide that have the capacity to lock up more than 70,000 adults and children. In Orleans Parish, there is undefined prison with a capacity of 0 people.
Incarceration takes many forms in Louisiana and includes state prisons, parish jails operated by sheriffs, jails operated by private companies, municipal jails operated by police departments, and sheriff-operated Transitional Work Programs. Many of these facilities are playing roles they should not play. This is especially true of jails: intended to hold only pretrial detainees and people serving short sentences, many Louisiana jails are holding people serving long prison sentences. All these facilities have a financial stake in filling their capacity. Ending Louisiana’s reliance on incarceration ultimately requires reducing capacity and permanently closing facilities.
Recommendation: End Louisiana’s practice of housing distinct groups of people with vastly different needs in the same multi-use facilities; for example, housing juveniles at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) and housing people with prison sentences in pretrial detention facilities, like parish jails. The state should use sentencing reform, applied retroactively, to reduce the number of incarcerated people to fit current Department of Public Safety & Corrections capacity.
Recommendation: Pass a data transparency bill that standardizes the data a carceral facility must collect and report.
Recommendation: Reduce the prison population by providing parole eligibility after 20 years to people serving long sentences and after 25 years to those serving life sentences; making parole-eligibility and sentencing reforms available retroactively; and implementing a felony classification system to eliminate inconsistencies in sentencing and release.
Every region of Louisiana is harmed by mass incarceration: nearly every parish has a pretrial incarceration rate above the national average, and dozens of parishes send people to prison at rates above the national average. The prevalence of incarceration is hard to see in many places, owing to an alarming lack of transparency and data, as well as a convoluted carceral landscape where jails also function as prisons. But parish and state-level research by Vera aims to clarify this picture.
State policy plays a major role in driving mass incarceration—as evidenced by a decrease in the state’s prison population that resulted, in part, from the 2017 Justice Reinvestment Package. However, state-level reform alone is insufficient. Significant progress on justice reform requires change at the local level: arrest and pretrial detention are the “front door” to mass incarceration and decisions by local police, prosecutors, and judges dictate how many people are put behind bars and for how long. Local jails also play a part in state prison incarceration: After a federal court ordered Louisiana to address prison overcrowding in the 1990s, many sheriffs expanded their jails, enabling them to receive revenue from the state for holding people sentenced to prison. As a result, many sheriffs are now reliant on these funds to support oversized jails. Given the role of local decisionmakers in dictating the use of jails and prisons, local governments have the power to scale back the use of incarceration and implement evidence-based solutions that will help Louisiana’s communities thrive.