DOC ‘deliberately indifferent’ about releasing incarcerated people on time
30th January 2023 · 0 Comments
By Greg LaRose
Contributing Writer
(lailluminator.com) — There is reason to believe Louisiana routinely holds incarcerated people beyond their release dates in violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution, according to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that covered the first four months of 2022.
Findings of the probe, which involved information the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections provided to federal officials, were made public Wednesday. The state has been on notice from the Justice Department for 10 years for its overcrowded prisons and its failure to take steps to ensure people are released on time.
From January to April 2022, 26.8 percent of the people released from state custody were held past their release dates, according to the Justice Department. Of those people detained past their release dates, 24 percent were held over for at least 90 days. The median number of days people detained too long was 29.
In the four-month period, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LDOC) had to pay parish jails an estimated $850,000, at a minimum, to cover the cost of individuals incarcerated beyond their lawful sentences. That would extrapolate to a $2.5 million annual cost to state taxpayers, according to Justice calculations.
“Our investigation uncovered evidence of systemic violations by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections that have resulted in the routine confinement of people far beyond the dates when they are legally entitled to be released,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “We are committed to taking action that will ensure that the civil rights of people held in Louisiana’s jails and prisons are protected. We stand ready to work with state officials to institute long overdue reforms.”
There was no immediate response to the Justice Department findings from the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
The ACLU of Louisiana released a statement calling on Public Safety and Corrections to address the shortcomings the federal investigation uncovered.
“As the prison capital of the world, Louisiana has a responsibility to end the needless brutality of over-incarceration,” ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Alanah Odoms said in the statement. “Too many people in our state, disproportionately people of color, face lengthy incarceration and are needlessly separated from their families and society.”
Keeping people incarcerated beyond their legally ordered release dates is a violation of their 14th Amendment right to due process.
The look into Louisiana’s incarceration practices comes after Congress approved the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act in 2020. It requires the Department of Justice to notify states when its investigations find illegal incarceration practices and tell corrections officials the minimum acceptable remedial steps needed to address them.
In a statement, U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-Louisiana, said he was “deeply angered” by the Justice Department’s findings.
“It is long past time that we reform this broken institution, and it is infuriating that the LDOC has known about this corruption for over a decade,” Carter said.
Justice officials are asking anyone with information relevant to their investigation to contact them by phone at 1-833-492-0097, or by email at community.louisianadoc@usdoj.gov.
This article originally published in the January 30, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
