La. prison system gets a hard look

The prison population of Louisiana has more than doubled to nearly 40,000 inmates in the past 20 years, according to the state Sentencing Commission, while the cost to taxpayers has tripled: roughly $670 million. Yet crime rates remain high, and improvements to public safety are marginal. Now Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature have tasked the Sentencing Commission to conduct a review of the state’s criminal statutes and make recommendations for improvements. The announcement comes less than a month after The Times-Picayune wrapped up its extensive series on the state’s jail system, “Louisiana Incarcerated: How we built the world’s prison capital,” which can be read here. According to state law, the review of the prison system must include “existing sentencing provisions as to their uniformity, certainty, consistency, and adequacy,” as well as issues that include prison capacity, probation and parole resources, judicial operations, and re-entry preparation programs, among others. The Sentencing Commission says it gathered data from 2011 through this year to produce a series of recommendations to improve public safety at a reduced cost.