The Department of Justice said it’s a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment when the Louisiana Department of Corrections holds inmates past their release date. Baton Rouge trail attorney Lindsay Blouin, with the law firm Manasseh, Gill, Knipe and Belanger, says the pandemic revealed a number of deficiencies within the criminal justice system that should be fixed.
“With better funding and modernization of the system so that way someone’s not waiting simply for a computer to update their status,” said Blouin.
The DOJ report says between January and April last year, nearly 27-percent of the people released from state custody were held past their release date. Of those overdetained people, 24% were held over for at least 90 days, and the median number of days overdetained was 29. In this four-month period, LDOC had to pay parish jails an estimated $850,000, at a minimum, in fees for the days those individuals were incarcerated beyond their lawful sentences. At that rate, it costs Louisiana over $.2.5 million a year.
“There is a cost to keep people in jail every day, and so those days really do add up when you’re taking into consideration that it is hundreds and thousands of people,” said Blouin.
The ruling said for more than a decade the DOC has been on notice for its over-detention problem and has failed to correct it. Blouin is optimistic the DOC will finally receive adequate funding to modernize its computer system.
“And I’m hopeful that with the Department of Justice focusing on this as an issue the legislature commits the resources to help the Department of Corrections get these systemic issues fixed,” said Blouin.
The DOC released a statement they are reviewing the DOJ report and cannot provide a response until the report is reviewed.
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