Since the summer of 2010, Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections has provided technical assistance to the Louisiana Sentencing Commission, with support from the Pew Center on the States and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Justice Reinvestment Initiative is providing the Louisiana Sentencing Commission with an in-depth analysis of the state’s criminal justice data to determine why Louisiana’s prison population and recidivism rate are increasing, and what, if any, evidence-based, fiscally responsible approaches can be taken to slow or even reverse these trends.

From 1985 to 2010, Louisiana’s prison population grew by 267 percent, while corrections spending increased by 400 percent. In 2008, it was calculated that Louisiana had the highest incarceration rate in the United States; 1 out of 55 adults in the state were in jail or prison. The annual cost to incarcerate someone in Louisiana is $21,838. The upward trend in the prison population and the concomitant rise in corrections spending have come at a time of unprecedented fiscal crisis. The state faces a projected budget deficit of nearly $2 billion for FY 2012—22 percent of the total budget in the previous fiscal year. It is clear that Louisiana cannot sustain its current levels of corrections spending.

Mindful of this, Governor Bobby Jindal directed the Louisiana Sentencing Commission in 2009 to review sentencing and corrections practices, with the aim of reducing prison overcrowding and thus state spending. The commission subsequently requested technical assistance from Vera and the Pew Center on the States. The organizations are working together to help develop policies that better manage prison growth in a way that reduces state expenditures on corrections, reduces recidivism rates, and increases public safety.

Vera’s preliminary analysis of the criminal justice data reveals that incarceration rates in Louisiana have increased and recidivism has not decreased significantly. For people released from prison in 2004, 49.6 percent were re-incarcerated within five years. In 2009, more than half of all prison admissions (56 percent) were the result of probation or parole revocations, nearly half of which were for technical violations, not new crimes. Overall, more than 70 percent of prison admissions in 2009 were for nonviolent crimes, mostly drug and property offenses.

The commission now charged with reviewing sentencing and corrections practices reflects a broad range of perspectives from throughout the criminal justice system. Its members include the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, legal academics, sheriffs, district attorneys, victim advocates, defense attorneys, members of the judiciary, and legislators. The commission’s goal is to examine ways in which evidence-based practices may be incorporated into Louisiana’s sentencing structure to significantly drive down the state’s projected prison population growth while protecting public safety.

For more information about Vera's justice reinvestment work in Louisiana, contact Peggy McGarry.