Louisiana

Background

As a result of a Justice Reinvestment effort in 2011, the state passed legislation to “focus prison space on people convicted of serious and violent crimes and people at greater risk of recidivating, reduce recidivism, and curb corrections costs.”¹ Still facing a large prison population, the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Task Force was formed in 2015.² When the Task Force was formed, Louisiana had the highest imprisonment rate in the United States; yet public safety did not improve over time as rates of recidivism remained high.³ The Task Force found that Louisiana admitted people to prison for nonviolent offenses at a far higher rate than other states and sent people to prison for nonviolent crimes at two or three times the rate of neighboring states with similar crime rates.⁴

Policies

The Task Force, with technical assistance from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Crime and Justice Institute, issued recommendations, which were the basis for a package of 10 Justice Reinvestment bills. These bills focused on prioritizing prison space for people convicted of more serious crimes, reducing penalties for specified crimes, and expanding eligibility for treatment-focused prison alternatives. To achieve these goals, Louisiana implemented policy and practice changes across state and local agencies.⁵

JRI-Driven Policies and Practices

Background

In 2018, the Louisiana legislature passed a resolution to create the Louisiana Women’s Incarceration Task Force to study the state’s justice system as it relates to women and develop recommendations to reduce recidivism and increase health and public safety. The Task Force, assisted by the Crime and Justice Institute, made 21 recommendations, many within the purview of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. The recommendations focused on improving the physical spaces in which incarcerated women live, expanding access to physical and behavioral health education and treatment, and increasing and supporting gender-responsive incarceration, reentry, and community supervision policies and practices.

Policies

In 2021, the legislature passed and Governor John Bel Edwards signed into law House Bill 271 to authorize a Transitional Residential Pilot Program for incarcerated women. Other recommendations are being implemented through a Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections strategic planning and budget process. To achieve the goals of this legislation, Louisiana implemented multiple policies and practices.

Outcomes

Louisiana’s policy changes diverted people convicted of less serious offenses from prison to community supervision, resulting in over $100 million saved and redirected into supportive services that reduce recidivism and support victims of crime.⁶ Louisiana also built on the work started in its 2017 JRI effort in subsequent years, such as by spearheading improvements focused on the unique needs of women in the justice system, including those related to behavioral and physical health.⁷

For more information, see Investing in Louisiana Communities Through JRI Report.

JRI-Driven Policies and Practices

Other JRI-Funded Projects

In Louisiana, individual agencies, in partnership with The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, participated in the Justice Counts initiative as part of a larger criminal justice effort.

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LDPSC), in partnership with the CSG Justice Center, was selected to receive an embedded data analyst through the Resident Corrections Analyst initiative. The resident corrections analyst will focus on improving the agency’s data analysis capabilities through modernizing data management and reporting and expanding the existing data pipelines to deliver reporting metrics faster.

¹ The Urban Institute, 2020, Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI): Louisiana, Washington, DC: Urban Institute, retrieved May 19, 2023 from Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI): Louisiana (urban.org).

² 2017, Justice Reinvestment Reforms Practitioners’ Guide, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Public Safety & Corrections, retrieved May 19, 2023 from https://s32082.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/la_practitioners.guide_justice.reinvestment.reforms_final_2017-8-1.pdf.

³ Ibid., 4. 

⁴ Ibid., 4.

⁵ Ibid., 38.

⁶ Amanda Coscia, Lisa Margulies, Abigail Strait, and Valerie Meade, 2023, Louisiana Justice Reinvestment: Improving Public Safety, Reinvesting in Evidence-Based Practices, Boston, MA: Crime and Justice Institute, retrieved May 17, 2023 from https://www.cjinstitute.org/publication/louisiana-justice-reinvestment-improving-public-safety-reinvesting-in-evidence-based-practices/.

⁷ “Louisiana Women’s Incarceration Task Force Sends Recommendations to Legislature,” Crime and Justice Institute News, August 12, 2020, https://www.cjinstitute.org/news-article/lawomensincarcerationtaskforce/; Lisa Margulies, “Louisiana’s New Women’s Prison Designed for Opportunity and Rehabilitation,” Crime and Justice Institute News, November 28, 2022, https://www.cjinstitute.org/news-article/louisianas-new-womens-prison-designed-for-opportunity-and-rehabilitation/.