The regular session hasn’t even started yet, and Sen. Butch Gautreaux has already abandoned legislation that would have made it easier for certain convicts to obtain parole. Due to a lack of support from top state officials and a less-than-supportive public reaction, Gautreaux, a Morgan City Democrat, says he plans to shelve his Senate Bill 62 when the regular session convenes next week.
Gautreaux says he doesn’t necessarily like the decision he has made, but he can read the political “tea leaves” before the first gavel even drops. “If I had the (Louisiana Department of Corrections) behind me, I’d still be moving forward,” Gautreaux says. “But since the secretary and everyone else are backing way, I won’t be doing anything with the bill.”
At the urging of Corrections Secretary James M. LeBlanc, Gautreaux says he filed legislation to change the number of votes needed on state parole boards to release most convicts. For example, while current law requires a unanimous vote from three-member parole boards, Gautreaux’s proposal would have required only two votes. For boards with more than three members, the legislation calls for only a majority vote.
While many in the criminal justice system see the benefits of a more lenient parole program, Gautreaux says many shy away from voicing support in public. “I get complaints from sheriffs all the time who say their jails are too full, wardens complaining about tight budgets and judges complaining about mandated sentences handed down by the Legislature,” he says. “I guess we’ll just continue to have the highest incarceration rate in the country.”
One out of every 55 Louisiana residents is presently locked up, according to a recent study by the nonprofit Pew Center for the States. Moreover, U.S. Census data shows the Bayou State’s incarceration rate has increased by more than 272% since 1982. As for how that plays out in dollar signs, it’s been estimated by the American Civil Liberties Union and other inmate-rights organizations that it costs Louisiana up to $20,000 per prisoner to keep criminals behind bars each and every year.
During December budget hearings, LeBlanc told lawmakers he would need 111 new probation and parole officers at a cost of $8 million just to keep up with the pace. He said then that the state’s current 554 officers were overloaded and handling 39 more offenders per worker than the southern regional average. LeBlanc said his department needed more beds, additional oversight for monitoring sex offenders and cash for emergency operations like generators. Gautreaux says his legislation could have helped ease some of this strain, but the political will to even appear slightly soft on crime does not exist in the Legislature right now. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we better do it soon,” he says.
While Gautreaux’s bill is being shelved, there’s still Senate Bill 248 by Sen. Lydia Jackson, a Shreveport Democrat, which requires only a majority vote of the state’s parole boards, rather than a unanimous vote. If approved by lawmakers, this version would take effect on Aug. 15. Rep. Walter Leger, a New Orleans Democrat, also has House Bill 715, which would allow a 15- or 16-year-old who has been tried and convicted of certain crimes following a transfer to adult court to become eligible for parole upon reaching their 31st birthday.
Rep. Patricia Haynes Smith of Baton Rouge, another Democrat, is pushing House Bill 104 to provide special parole consideration for inmates who have served 10 years in prison and have reached the age of 60. The proposed change would not apply to individuals convicted of a crime of violence or any sex offense. In a related filing, there’s House Bill 17 by Rep. J. Kevin Pearson, a Slidell Republican, which would allow crimefighters’ organizations to nominate members to the boards of pardons and paroles.
