BIG CHANGES COMING TO LOUISIANA….

Mar 12 

Written By William Kissinger

Louisiana last week adopted a grab bag of new laws, 37 in all, that double down on the state’s culture of incarceration and punishment. The bills were passed over a period of just nine days, during a special session called by Governor Jeff Landry, who won the office last year. Landry vowed in his inauguration speech to “bring an end to the misguided and deadly tolerance for crime and criminals,” even though the state already has the nation’s highest imprisonment rate.

We found that the state’s criminal justice reform advocates are gearing up for a significant growth in Louisiana’s incarcerated populations—people held pretrial as well as those sentenced and serving time. Among other things, the new laws effectively eliminate parole, vastly restrict “good time” credits, mandate prison time for technical violations of parole and probation, and move all 17-year old’s charged with a crime into the adult system.

“Of course it’s going to balloon the prison population. Every single time these kinds of laws go into play, the incarceration rate jumps,” said Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, a researcher who wrote a book on Louisiana’s history of incarceration. “That’s just basic math.” 

The laws are also likely to empower local sheriffs, and send more money into their coffers. Owing to a unique arrangement designed to address overcrowding, Louisiana’s local lock-ups house more than half of its state prisoner population in a system that runs on “per diem” payments from the state to local law enforcement in exchange for jailing people who have been sentenced to state prison. The payments this year will total $177 million. More prisoners means more money for sheriffs across the state—and likely future efforts to expand jails.

“Louisiana law enforcement agencies are uniquely invested in incarceration” because of the per-diem system, one advocate told Bolts. “They financially benefit from people who are being held in their jails without providing any of those programs or resources.” 

The U.S. prison population is rapidly getting grayer: The proportion of state and federal prisoners who are 55 or older is about five times what it was three decades ago. That’s largely because people are serving out longer sentences — and because people tend to age faster behind bars. Prison systems across the country, which are constitutionally obligated to provide adequate health care, are now grappling with how to pay for the equipment and staffing to meet their needs.

Even before his inauguration, Landry surrounded himself with industry heads and business leaders. He put oil lobbyists and executives at the helm of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, formerly known as the Department of Natural Resources.

When a federal judge ordered lawmakers to create a second majority-Black congressional district, Landry added more than a dozen unrelated topics to his official call for the required special legislative session.

Though lawmakers didn’t give the governor everything he wanted then, they largely did in a special session on crime a month later.

Landry, previously Louisiana’s attorney general, made that session his top campaign issue. The session’s agenda included campaign promises such as longer jail terms, severely reduced opportunities for parole, and putting the state’s public defender system under the governor’s direct control.

And it’s only been two months.

The regular lawmaking session kicked off Monday, March 11, and must end no later than June 3.

More views on how the fear of crime, rational or not, has fueled a return to harsh criminal laws in some places. Add Tennessee and Vermont to the list of jurisdictions that plan to roll back justice reform measures, including rules to make police more accountable for cases of brutality and other misconduct, in the name of “public safety.” In Florida, for example, Republican lawmakers want to abolish civilian-run police review boards.

For decades, Louisiana had the nation’s highest rate of incarceration. And — given that the U.S. is among the most carceral countries on the planet — the state arguably spent some 20 years as the “prison capital” of the world.

Louisiana lost that distinction, by a hair, after a series of 2017 reforms successfully shrank the prison population by a third. (In recent years, it has jockeyed back and forth with a few states for the title.)

But “prison capital of the world” is a sobriquet the state is likely to regain after state legislators sent a suite of punitive changes to Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk this week. The new laws would end the possibility of parole for most new convictions and increase how much of a sentence a person must serve before being released for good behavior, from 35% of the sentence to 85%. The changes also do away with some of the tools local prosecutors had for undoing wrongful convictions, which are more common in Louisiana than in the rest of the U.S.

Criminal justice reform advocates have pushed back on the legislation, arguing that people released on parole are less likely to commit new crimes than those who serve full prison terms. In 2023, fewer than 400 people, or about 1% of the state’s prisoners, were granted parole. There’s also evidence that getting rid of parole, alongside time reductions for good behavior behind bars, makes prisons more dangerous by removing the incentives for people to pursue rehabilitative programming and avoid disciplinary violations.

Another new Louisiana law mandates that 17-year-olds accused of crimes be charged as adults, rather than in the juvenile justice system, reversing a 2017 reform that did the opposite. Proponents of the change say that the state’s youth jails became more volatile with the introduction of 17-year-olds. Critics note that the state already has mechanisms for transferring 17-year-olds accused of serious crimes into the adult system, so the change will mostly serve to criminalize teens charged with petty crimes.

The package of laws included other components that may not directly increase the prison population, but are designed to signal a “tough” approach to crime. This includes authorizing electrocution and nitrogen gas as execution methods, and making public the criminal records of minors accused of certain crimes. In total, the new suite of laws likely makes Louisiana the most punitive justice system in the nation, with harsher penalties than it had even before the bipartisan reforms passed in 2017. The new changes likely will bring a substantial cost to taxpayers.

Louisiana is not alone. Across the country, state legislatures are rapidly advancing punitive bills and rolling back criminal justice reforms, largely in response to fears about crime. In Georgia, Senate Bill 63 — which has passed the state Senate and House — would add 30 charges to the list of crimes that require judges to impose cash bail to release a person from jail pretrial. That list includes many minor and nonviolent crimes like shoplifting and forgery, if they’re not a first offense. The bill would effectively ban charitable bail funds in the state, in what some have interpreted as a direct attack on the “Stop Cop City” protest movement, which has relied on bail funds to get arrested activists out of jail.

In Kentucky, a similar measure to restrict charitable bail funds passed in the state House and is pending in the Senate. It’s part of a broader package that would also stiffen penalties for the sale of fentanyl and some gun crimes, and impose a life sentence without parole on anyone convicted of a violent offense for a third time. The bill would also create a new law against “unlawful camping,” an effort aimed at policing unhoused people.

Both Kentucky and Georgia have experienced serious issues with overcrowding and understaffing in jails and prisons in recent years, problems that the pending laws are likely to make worse.

This week the Washington, D.C., city council also passed a “massive” crime bill that, similarly, “puts the liberal city on a track toward harsher punishments for a range of crimes from illegal gun possession to retail theft,” according to The Washington Post. The new criminal code, which has increasingly become a political football in the nation’s capital, has to be approved by Congress to take permanent effect.

While they vary dramatically in scope and approach, punitive legislative efforts are also underway in Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and elsewhere. As in Louisiana, many of these legislative efforts aim to undo reforms passed in recent years.

Aswad Thomas, the National Director for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, told me this week that some of these efforts also come as states cut resources “for victims to access healing and recovery services” and invest more in policing and incarceration. “That’s going to have a ripple effect on domestic violence victims, sexual assault victims, and victims of gun violence,” Thomas said.

For example, in Louisiana, the governor’s proposed budget — unveiled at the same time as the special session about crime — cuts $7 million in funding for domestic violence shelters in a state where more than half of all murdered women are killed by an intimate partner. “Every single person we are serving is a victim of crime,” the director of one shelter told the Louisiana Illuminator.

Louisiana expands death penalty, ends parole as Jeff Landry’s crime session ends

Major victory for Gov. Landry as most of his favored bills earn approval from Republican Legislature.

Louisiana death row prisoners could soon be executed with nitrogen gas and the electric chair under legislation given final approval by state lawmakers Thursday — part of a push by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry to toughen penalties for criminals and limit their opportunities for second chances.

The legislation, House Bill 6, headlined a whirlwind 10-day special session convened by Landry in a bid to fight crime. Lawmakers sent 19 other pieces of legislation to Landry’s desk Wednesday and Thursday, marking a victory in the governor’s effort to lurch the state’s policies to the political right by dismantling bipartisan justice system changes enacted in 2017.

“On behalf of countless citizens, victims, their families and the prosecutors who have labored for justice, I give you their thanks,” Landry told lawmakers who voted for his favored bills.

Those bills will have profound effects on the state’s courts and prisons: Landry, who took office last month, is set to sign legislation to eliminate parole for all adults who commit crimes after Aug. 1, slash prisoners’ chances at early release for good behavior, place 17-year-olds in the adult justice system and publicize a swath of youth court records, among over a dozen other measures.

The proposals faced withering criticism throughout the legislative process from Democrats, who argued that more punitive laws will do little to reduce crime — one of Landry’s stated goals for the session.

They tried repeatedly to water Landry’s bills down with a variety of amendments; most of those efforts failed.

“These new laws do nothing to prevent crime before it happens,” said Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans and chair of the House Democratic Caucus. “In fact, the bills passed will explode Louisiana’s prison population, increase recidivism and place an enormous burden on Louisiana taxpayers for generations to come.”

The GOP’s supermajorities in both the House and Senate powered almost all of Landry’s priorities through the legislative process intact. He will sign bills at ceremonies in Baton Rouge and New Orleans next Tuesday and Wednesday, said his press secretary, Kate Kelly.

Death penalty pushback

Silence enveloped the Senate chamber Thursday morning as Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, presented the death penalty bill on behalf of its House sponsor, Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, R-Hammond. Besides growing the state’s list of approved execution methods, the legislation would seal records related to the procurement of lethal injection drugs.

Landry strode into the upper chamber and sat in the gallery with a group of victims’ loved ones — some of whom he shares personal bonds with. He watched the debate quietly then exited swiftly once the bill was approved, dodging reporters gathered outside the Senate.

Lawmakers of both parties invoked Scripture during the debate.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image,” said Sen. J. Adam Bass, R-Bossier City, reciting from the Book of Genesis. Moments later Sen. Joseph Bouie, D-New Orleans, walked to the mike and quoted the Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.”

Louisiana last executed someone in 2010 when Gerald Bordelon chose to be put to death by lethal injection for the murder of 12-year-old Courtney LeBlanc. The state has since struggled to obtain lethal injection drugs, leaving 56 people currently held on death row. Louisiana’s last electric chair execution occurred in 1991. 

Faith organizations campaigned vigorously against the bill in the days before the Senate’s vote. Tom Costanza, director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned the bill as running counter to the Catholic Church’s “pro-life” values.

Rabbi Phil Kaplan of Beth Israel in New Orleans said the bill “unmistakably and immediately evokes for millions of American Jews horrific memories of the depravities our ancestors endured at the hands of Nazi Germany, when lethal gas was used to mass murder our people.” And Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, evoked the Holocaust on the Senate floor as he proposed an amendment to remove nitrogen from the list of execution methods.

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus also rose to warn of the bill’s potential outsize effect on Black Louisianans, noting the state’s history of executing Black men only to later unearth evidence of their innocence.

Officials carried out the first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution in Alabama last month. They pumped nitrogen gas into the mouth of convicted killer-for-hire Kenny Smith, depriving Smith of oxygen until he died, according to an interview with an eyewitness. Smith writhed and gasped for air and was pronounced dead after about 20 minutes.

But the discomfort felt by Smith in his final moments should not outweigh what Kleinpeter described as a need to mete out the ultimate punishment for those convicted of heinous crimes, Kleinpeter said.

“We made an oath to uphold the laws of our state,” Kleinpeter said. “Today we can honor these families and remove the hurdles so that justice may be served for the victims.”

Capital Appeals Project Director Cecelia Kappel, whose group represents death row prisoners, noted that the Senate’s vote was among the closest of the session as four Republicans defied Landry and voted against the bill. The Senate approved the legislation 24-15.

“Many legislators struggled to choose between their conscience and their political allegiances,” Kappel said. “And what this shows us is that Louisiana should not rush to start executing people by brutal methods. … This isn’t about whether we should have the death penalty, it’s about how far we’d go to kill a man.”

Early release, post-conviction relief pared back

A trio of major bills that aim at the heart of Louisiana’s bipartisan 2017 justice system overhaul also earned final approval Thursday. They will slash opportunities available to prisoners for early release and post-conviction sentencing reprieve.

Criminals will have fewer opportunities to appeal convictions after the Legislature gave final passage to House Bill 4, by Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro. Republicans lined up in support while Democrats were opposed. The supporters said passage of the bill will limit “frivolous” lawsuits that gum up the legal system.

Critics, led by Duplessis, argued that HB 4 will make it harder for imprisoned people to win exoneration for crimes they didn’t commit when new evidence emerges years after a conviction.

House Bills 9 and 10, both sponsored by Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, also earned final approval from the Senate Thursday. HB9 would eliminate parole for everyone convicted of a crime after Aug. 1, while HB10 makes prisoners serve 85% of their sentences before they’re eligible for early release based on good behavior.

Villio, Landry and other supporters said the bills would create a more transparent sentencing system by forcing criminals to serve the precise number of years to which they’re sentenced.

They batted away opponents’ concerns that the legislation would hike jail populations and raise costs, saying they will work to educate judges about the need to adjust sentences. Legislative analysts estimate that HB9 will cost millions annually due to the likelihood it will inflate prison populations.

“Today is a great day in Louisiana,” Landry said in a statement.

I, for one, beg to differ. This presents a very dark day for Louisiana, indeed.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Much of the information contained in this article came from the Marshall Project, and from NOLA.COM, and I am not copyrighting any of this information. I am providing it to you under the fair use doctrine.

SEXUAL ABUSE IN WOMEN’S PRISON INVESTIGATED

FBI removes prison officials as sexual abuse investigation ramps up. Federal law enforcement agents again searched a women’s prison in California known for rampant sexual abuse behind bars. More than a dozen FBI agents arrived at FCI-Dublin, about 20 miles east of Oakland, early Monday. They removed the warden, associate warden and a captain from the facility, and seized computers and documents in a clear escalation of a years-long investigation into one of the Bureau of Prisons’ most troubled penitentiaries. The probe has already resulted in charges against a former warden and other prison staff.

Louisiana ramping up for surge in prisons/solitary use

A recent Louisiana bill changes sentencing requirements for 17-year-olds, moving them out of the juvenile justice system and into the adult system. When in adult facilities, teenagers are uniquely vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse and federal law requires that they be separated from the adult population, which in practice often means placement in solitary confinement. The passing of Senate Bill 3 will result in a massive increase in the overall prison population in Louisiana and a heavy reliance on solitary for teens due to a lack of adequate housing.