An additional 1,400 to 1,500 nonviolent inmates will be released on Nov. 1 as part of new laws designed to reform Louisiana’s criminal justice system. Department of Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc said he is confident it will help inmates successfully transition out of the incarceration cycle. 

“We feel comfortable it is going to work,” LeBlanc told the American Press on Thursday.

Under the new law (Act 280), nonviolent offenders can become eligible for parole after serving 35 percent of their sentence. LeBlanc called the additional releases the “biggest challenge” out of the 10 the criminal justice reform laws approved during the legislative session last spring.

“I don’t want everybody to overreact to this,” he said. “In my opinion, this is just a blip on the radar as far as what we’re doing.”

LeBlanc said the department normally releases 1,500 inmates every month. While the Nov. 1 release will double that amount, he said the increase will only be about 30 to 40 inmates every month after that. LeBlanc said the department releases 17,000 to 18,000 inmates per year.

“It’s not like we’re opening the floodgates,” he said.

The early release, LeBlanc said, will help move inmates out an average of 60 days early. For some inmates, he said, it may be days or weeks early. The release applies to inmates who have a sentence of 10 years or less in jail.

LeBlanc said about 80 percent of the inmates will be discharged out of parish jails. He said most of these inmates don’t have access to transitional services on release. The department, LeBlanc said, is going to provide “at least 50 hours” of programming before they are released.

LeBlanc said they will assist with finding them a place to live, help them apply for a job and job placement, anger management or other programs depending on their needs. 

Concerns

LeBlanc said he understands the concerns of releasing inmates who have not served their entire sentence. 

“Can something happen? It certainly can,” he said. “But one bad apple in that group doesn’t make the other (offenders) guilty. That’s what we need to focus on.”

LeBlanc said a risk assessment will be done on every inmate. Some inmates who have been jailed for violent offenses prior to their most recent nonviolent conviction could be put on intensive parole supervision or electronic monitoring.

“The assessment scores the (inmates) on different levels,” LeBlanc said. 

He said his corrections staff is working overtime to check the records of about 16,000 inmates who qualify for early release. He said they have spent the last two to three weeks working with transition specialists and re-entry centers.

LeBlanc said Felton Thompson would not have qualified for the early release because of his violent criminal background. Thompson, 50, was arrested in late September in connection with the shooting death of a 10-year-old boy on Shattuck Street and seriously injuring a 17-year-old. Lake Charles Police Chief Don Dixon said Thompson had a lengthy criminal history.

Thompson, who has since been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder, was paroled after serving 24 years of a 99-year sentence for armed robbery and other crimes. LeBlanc said Thompson’s release misrepresents the intent of releasing nonviolent offenders early.

“(Thompson) became parole eligible,” he said. “Nobody opposed his parole at that hearing. That has nothing to do with (my office). I think it is just a bad example on the questions that are raised for releasing prisoners.”

Impacts

LeBlanc said the state’s prison population has been reduced by 5,000 inmates over the last three years. He said crime rates, aside from murders, have declined with the population cut.

“We can’t make excuses for that,” LeBlanc said of murder rates not dropping. “But the reduction in crime has happened because of the investment in re-entry centers. We know the type of investment we’re talking about down the road works.”

LeBlanc said 5,000 fewer inmates is equal to $44 million that the state saves per year. He said the cost to house one inmate is $24.39 per day. 

LeBlanc said the department alone can’t make the early-release effort work.

“We are not miracle makers here,” he said. “We need everyone helping, from the judges, district attorneys, nonprofits and community partners.”

As more offenders are released, LeBlanc said they need to collect the data and reassure the public of how the program is working. “Then we can start talking about where we go from here,” he said.

LeBlanc said the state should look into why some people are arrested dozens of times before they are found guilty of nonviolent offenses.

“If a guy had 55 arrests before he was found guilty, why wasn’t something done at 10 arrests?” he said. “That’s the thing we need to look at with sheriffs, judges, (district attorneys) and public defenders.”

LeBlanc also stressed early intervention with people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol to prevent them from turning to crime to feed their addictions. He said the department should also look at improving the time frame once inmates are arrested to when they go to trial.