Louisiana’s prison system routinely holds people who have completed their sentences for weeks or even months, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday. The lawsuit against Louisiana follows a multi-year investigation into what federal authorities say is a pattern of “systematic overincarceration” that violates inmates’ rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year. It is something that has gone through many years.
The Justice Department claims that since at least 2012, more than a quarter of people scheduled for release from Louisiana prisons have remained in custody past their release date. The Justice Department warned Louisiana officials last year that the state could face lawsuits if it didn’t fix the problem, but the department’s lawyers said the state’s “last-minute efforts” to address the problem ” was “inadequate” and showed “deliberate indifference” to the state government. Constitutional Rights of Incarcerated Individuals.
“The right to individual liberty includes the right to be released from incarceration on a scheduled basis after a court-determined period,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
“Indefinitely imprisoning people not only violates individual freedoms, but also undermines public confidence in the fair and just application of the law.”
In a joint statement provided to The Associated Press, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and state Attorney General Liz Murrill blamed the problem on a “failed criminal justice reform” pursued by “the previous administration.” he accused.
“Over the past year, we have taken important actions to keep Louisianans safe and to protect those who commit crimes on time,” the statement said. “The State of Louisiana is committed to preserving the constitutional rights of Louisiana residents.”
Republican state officials also characterized the effort as a last-ditch lawsuit by outgoing President Joe Biden, arguing that the incoming Donald Trump administration would not have been allowed to file the lawsuit.
Advocates have repeatedly challenged the status quo of Louisiana’s prison system, including the country’s largest maximum-security prison known as Angola. In Angolan prisons, inmates work in what was once a slave plantation under the hot sun, picking vegetables by hand.
