The first full-year report on the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Package shows the legislation, passed in 2017 to address sentencing laws and reentry programming, has already made significant impacts—even surpassing initial outcome projections. Noteworthy data findings include a reduction in sentencing length, a decrease in overall prison population and a drop in the number of convictions for habitual offenders with exclusively nonviolent offenses. While the reforms have not been in place long enough to accurately quantify impacts on recidivism rates, early data suggests the state’s efforts to strengthen community supervision are on track to address reincarceration rates.
Louisiana previously had the highest prison population in the U.S. but, since the implementation of JRI reforms, the state is no longer leading the U.S. for its incarceration levels. Now, the state is anticipating significant changes in their offender population as more opportunities to reenter society are made available. These are the four main goals JRI reforms target, along with outcomes measured so far:
1. Focus prison beds on offenders who pose a serious threat to public safety.
These changes were implemented to redirect nonviolent offenders away from prison, citing several studies proving incarceration is not the most effective way to reduce recidivism.
According to the 2019 performance report, Louisiana is on track to meet this goal. Since JRI legislation was implemented in late 2017, the number of people in prison for drug and property offenses has dropped significantly—about 26 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
2. Strengthen community supervision.
Several adjustments were made to probation and parole systems, including shortening probation and parole terms, limiting jail time in response to violations and creating incentives to encourage positive behavior.
Since JRI reforms were implemented, Probation and Parole has had a steady decline in the average caseload size, from a previous size of 149 individuals to an average 123 by the end of 2018. This has allowed probation officers to focus more time and energy into their most at-risk population.
3. Clear barriers to successful reentry.
A variety of measures were included to support the transition from confinement to community, such as suspending child support payments while a person is incarcerated, allowing former inmates to obtain professional licenses they were previously barred from, and expanding formerly incarcerated individuals’ access to public assistance.
While a variety of measures have been taken to support successful reentry, their overall effects are more difficult to measure. Recidivism data, for example, won’t be available until JRI reforms have been in place for at least five years. Some information is also limited because DPS&C cannot measure successful reentry for those who are no longer under correctional control. Understanding the scope of this goal’s impact will likely require additional research since it is based primarily on financial stability and employment opportunities.
4. Reinvest savings into recidivism reduction, prison alternatives and crime victim support.
Each year, DPS&C is required to calculate total savings from JRI reforms and reinvest 70 percent into grants, programs and initiatives for treatment services.
The legislation was estimated to reduce prison and community supervision populations by about 10 to 12 percent, saving about $262 million in upcoming years. Savings from the first year of the new legislation were more than $12.2 million, more than double the original projected savings of $6.1 million. These funds were distributed across four main categories: 21 percent to community-based programs, 14 percent to victims’ services, and 35 percent to targeted investments for programming within jails and prisons themselves.
The state has continued to allocate more resources to community-based reentry programs, including two recently added GEO Reentry Services Day Reporting Centers (DRCs) in Monroe and Thibodaux. With JRI legislation, Louisiana has shifted its focus to include more evidence-based practices in rehabilitation, prioritizing education, employment and access to community resources. Findings from the June 2019 performance report indicate the reforms are on track to meet its major goals for reducing recidivism statewide. GEO Reentry also operates DRCs in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and Covington to support the state’s focus on evidence-based reentry services.