The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Louisiana after a multi-year investigation revealed a pattern of 'systemic overdetention' where inmates are routinely held for weeks or months past their scheduled release dates. The DOJ alleges that this violates inmates' rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars annually. Louisiana officials argue that the issue stems from 'failed criminal justice reforms' implemented by the previous administration.
Louisiana 's prison system routinely holds inmates for weeks or months after they were supposed to be released from custody following the completion of their sentences, the U.S. Justice Department said in a lawsuit filed Friday. The lawsuit against the state comes after a multi-year investigation into a pattern of 'systemic overdetention' that violates inmates’ rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars per year.
The Justice Department warned Louisiana officials last year that it may file a lawsuit against the state if it failed to fix the problems. Lawyers for the department argue that the state made 'marginal efforts' to address the issues, noting that such attempts at a fix were 'inadequate' and showed a 'deliberate indifference' to the constitutional rights of inmates.
Advocates have repeatedly challenged the conditions in Louisiana's prison system, which includes Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the nation, where inmates pick vegetables by hand on an 18,000-acre lot. The site was once the Angola Plantations, a slave plantation owned by Isaac Franklin and named after Angola, the country of origin for many of the enslaved people who worked there. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Prisons Overdetention Inmates Justice Department Louisiana
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