Louisiana hopes to keep former inmates out of prison
23rd July 2018 · 0 Comments
By Susan Buchanan
Contributing Writer
The number of people serving time in Louisiana has declined following criminal justice reforms that took effect last fall. The state plans to use savings from this reduced population to keep former inmates out of prison.
A package of 10 measures, signed by Governor John Bel Edwards in June of last year, has helped nonviolent, non-sex offenders win early discharges. Under current law, nonviolent criminals are eligible for “good time” releases after serving 35 percent of their sentences, versus 40 percent before the law was changed. These prisoners have been getting out a few months sooner than they would have previously.
About 1,952 inmates were let out of facilities statewide in a one-time occurrence on November 1, Ken Pastorick, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections or DPS&C, said last week. Before that, 1,500 or more state inmates had been released monthly, and 18,000 left prison yearly. Last November, nearly twice as many people as usual were freed in a month. But since then, monthly releases have dipped a bit below 1,500, Pastorick said.
Many of the inmates discharged last November were held in parish facilities, where the state housed them to avoid building more prisons. Parish facilities usually have fewer rehab programs than state prisons, and that can make re-entry tougher for individuals freed from them.
Last November 1, Dixon Correctional Institute, a state prison in East Feliciana Parish, released 71 offenders from across Louisiana—the most of any facility that day. Dixon Correctional is in the laces of the state’s boot at the southeast border. And it’s 34 miles from the Louisiana State Penitentiary or Angola, the world’s biggest, maximum-security facility. Angola’s prisoners are mostly serving life sentences.
Among the November 1 releases were 129 offenders who had been convicted in Orleans Parish; they were discharged from 45 facilities and work-release projects statewide. On that day, 164 inmates convicted in Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana were let go, along with 139 convicted in Jefferson Parish, 127 charged in East Baton Rouge Parish and 82 in St. Tammany. Once released, people tend to return to the parishes where they were prosecuted.
Since Orleans Parish Prison holds few state inmates, only one individual — who was in a transitional work-release program — was discharged from that facility on November 1 under the reforms, OPP spokesman Philip Stelly said last week.
Of the inmates released statewide at November’s start, 61 percent were African-American, according to DPS&C. The rest were white, Hispanic and Asian American.
When the reforms were passed a year ago, some recidivism was anticipated. As of last week, 245 inmates or 12.6 percent of those discharged across the state on November 1 had been rearrested, DPS&C records show. That included nine people in Orleans Parish and eight in Jefferson.
In June, the DPS&C and the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement gave the legislature their first annual report about the reforms. In this year’s first quarter, the number of people imprisoned for nonviolent offenses was down 20 percent from the average for all quarters in 2016, the report said. Admissions for drug offenses had declined. By first quarter 2018, inmates convicted of violent crimes in Louisiana prisons exceeded those incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. Previously, the reverse was true.
Before these reforms, Louisiana imprisoned people for nonviolent offenses 1.5 to three times more often than other Southern states with similar crime rates, according to the DPS&C. But this year, Louisiana is moving in the right direction and has gone from first- to second-most incarcerated state after Oklahoma. Mississippi is third. Louisiana’s prison population, which peaked at over 40,000 in 2012, is now below 33,000 for the first time since 1998.
The new laws, which are projected to save the state more than $262 million in the first decade, mandate that 70 percent of those savings be invested in programs to reduce rearrests and to support victims. Of those released from Louisiana prisons yearly, 43 percent return within five years, according to the DPS&C.
Inmates discharged under recent reforms are already saving the state more than the Pew Charitable Trusts had predicted, Pastorick said. Pew in Pittsburgh has provided technical assistance to Louisiana’s criminal justice reforms.
As for what the prisons receive, the state pays them $24.39 a day per inmate. And in a practice questioned by some legislators, sheriffs’ departments get revenue from jobs done by prison laborers in work-release programs.
With fewer inmates, the state’s savings in fiscal year 2018 totaled $12.2 million, double Pew’s original projection for the year of $6.1 million. In the future, sheriffs’ departments that are losing revenue from prison labor, because populations are smaller, might be compensated by the state.
While fewer people go to prison now for technical violations and drug possession, and millions of dollars have been freed up for investment, “there is much more work to do, and we must stay the course,” Governor Edwards said in a June 25 release. Part of the current savings will be directed to community groups to assist released inmates. Edwards said the state is requesting proposals from groups interested in expanding re-entry services to reduce prison admissions and recidivism. Grants to these groups will be announced this fall.
Social service groups are scrambling now to assist freed prisoners who need homes, jobs, training, clothes, medical and mental health services, legal counseling and mentoring. Finding housing is the biggest hurdle, according to New Orleans program officer Ameca Reali with the Foundation for Louisiana.
“Former inmates often can’t stay with a relative because that home might already be cramped,” Reali said. “And those who can’t contribute to a household financially might not be welcome for extended stays.” In addition, people who have been in prison for awhile have sometimes lost touch with relatives. For women, finding housing that’s safe and secure can be particularly difficult. At this juncture, community groups are looking for ways to house freed inmates, she said.
Reali said that maintaining a continuum of medical care can be hard for the newly freed. “Maybe an inmate was being treated for diabetes in prison,” she said. “They get out and can’t get the attention they need for awhile.”
Meanwhile, Roots of Renewal on South Rampart is helping. Last week, Roots executive director Catherine Rieder said her group is teaching formerly incarcerated men, ages 18 to 26, how to renovate blighted, Central City properties. “They go through our 16-week training and earn stipends,” she said. Participants are taught carpentry, dry-walling, flooring, siding and painting, along with interviewing and financial skills. They discuss their work weekly with mentors and are given assistance in finding jobs. Roots sells the renovated homes to first-time buyers.
“I’m fairly new to the job here, and I’ve been impressed by the energy, dedication and quick minds of these trainees,” Reider said.
Several Louisiana laws that had hurt freed inmates in the past have been changed. Legislative measures approved last summer include the following. Act 262 streamlines the process for those with criminal convictions who are seeking occupational licenses; it went into effect in August of last year. Act 264 suspends child support payments for those who were incarcerated longer than six months, unless an individual has the means to pay; it goes into effect next January. Act 265 lifts a ban on federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, benefits to those returning home from prison after drug convictions; it’s been in effect since last October.
This article originally published in the July 23, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
