Louisiana eliminates parole and reduces "good time" early release
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A prisoner's hands inside a punishment cell wing at Angola Prison. Photo: Giles Clarke/Getty Images
A drastic change for adults convicted in Louisiana courtrooms begins Thursday as the state eliminates parole and reduces early release opportunities for inmates who demonstrate good behavior.
Why it matters: After criminal justice reforms led the state to save $153 million and shed its dubious title as the world's prison capital, experts say Louisiana's corrections budget and its prison population will increase again, potentially doubling in size over the next ten years.
The big picture: Soon after taking office in January, Gov. Jeff Landry called a special session, asking state lawmakers to address violent crime despite data showing crime rates actually dropping.
- By the session's end, many of the reforms passed with bipartisan support during Landry's Democratic predecessor's term had been stripped back.
- The January changes included the elimination of parole for adults, the reduction of early release for "good time," creating stiffer penalties for carjackings, expanded options for the state's execution methods and allowing adults to carry concealed guns without permits.
Zoom in: The new parole standards and the "good time" changes both came from Rep. Debbie Villio (R-Kenner) and apply to people convicted of crimes committed on or after Thursday.
- Villio and Landry have said that the new rules will create more transparency in sentencing, according to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
- "Good time," Landry said in his opening remarks to the special session, "is like a participation trophy for jail."
By the numbers: Last year, 790 of the state's 29,000 prisoners had parole hearings in Louisiana, according to the state's Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole's annual report, and 387 of them had it granted.
- As for "good time" eligibility, previously, an imprisoned person could receive a sentence reduction of 13 days for every seven spent in custody. Now, eligibility drops to a maximum of 15% of a person's sentence.
Between the lines: A report from the Crime and Justice Institute says the stringency of the "good time" change makes Louisiana "an outlier across the country" and projects it will nearly double the state's prison population to more than 55,000 over the next decade.
- That population increase would also double the state's corrections budget, the report says.
- Plus, the prison population will get older, says Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative, which has studied Louisiana parole.
- "If they're not being released, they're aging in prison," she tells Axios New Orleans. "You're going to see so many more people who are of advanced age and people dealing with chronic illness that the state's prisons are going to resemble hospitals even more than they already do."
The bottom line: If Louisiana has more people in prison, it'll cost the state more to keep them there.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the title of the Crime and Justice Institute.