Louisiana prisons routinely house past-release inmates: DOJ

The Louisiana prison system The U.S. Department of Justice said in a lawsuit filed Friday that it routinely holds inmates for weeks or months after they are supposed to be released from prison at the end of their sentences.

The lawsuit against the state follows a years-long investigation into a pattern of “systemic over-incarceration” that violates prisoners’ rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

According to the DOJ, more than a quarter of inmates scheduled to be released from Louisiana prisons since at least 2012 have been held beyond their release date.

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The DOJ says inmates in Louisiana prisons are being held long after they should have been released after serving their sentences. (AP)

The Department of Justice Last year, Louisiana warned officials that it could file a lawsuit against the state if it failed to fix the problems. Lawyers for the department argue that the state has made “inadequate efforts” to fix the problems, saying that such remedial efforts are “inadequate” and show “deliberate indifference” to the constitutional rights of inmates.

“(T)he right to personal liberty includes the right to be released from custody at the end of a court-ordered period of time,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.

“Indefinitely imprisoning people … not only interferes with individual liberty, but also undermines public confidence in the fair and just application of our laws,” the statement added.

More than a quarter of inmates scheduled to be released from Louisiana prisons since at least 2012 have missed their release dates, the Justice Department said. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and state Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, blamed the problem on “failed criminal justice reforms” implemented by the “past administration.”

“This past year, we’ve taken significant steps to keep Louisianans safe and ensure that those who commit crimes do time,” Landry and Murrill said in a joint statement to The Associated Press. “The State of Louisiana is committed to protecting the constitutional rights of the citizens of Louisiana.”

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Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks at the CPAC Texas 2022 conference at the Hilton Anatole. (Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The two state officials also said the lawsuit was a last-ditch effort by President Biden, who will leave office next month, and that President-elect Trump incoming administration he would not pursue the case.

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Advocates have repeatedly protested conditions in Louisiana’s prison system, including Angola, the nation’s largest maximum-security prison, where inmates harvest vegetables by hand on 18,000 acres. The site was once Angola Plantations, a slave plantation owned by Isaac Franklin and named after Angola, the country of origin of many of the enslaved people who worked there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.