More than Oversight: Overdetention in Louisiana
At the conclusion of August, Lisa Andres and Jaren Brignac filed a federal lawsuit against the Louisiana Department of Corrections (DPSC). The claim argues that DPSC Secretary Gary Wescott’s “deliberate indifference towards Louisiana’s overdetention crisis has resulted in tens of thousands of days of wrongful imprisonment.” Both Andres and Brignac were held past their sentence in Louisiana prisons and hope that their filing can gain class action status. Overdetention in Louisiana is more than a clerical oversight; its Constitutional implications, budgetary strain, and erosion of trust bear serious consequences for public safety in our state.
Overdetention is a grave Constitutional violation on multiple fronts. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment dictates that a person cannot be deprived of their “life, liberty, or property without due process.” The days in prison that extend after a sentence are not days accounted for by a judge’s decision and a lawful trial. Rather, they represent a deprivation of liberty even after one's debt to society has been paid in full. There is also an argument to be made based on the Eight Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.” A release date represents a conclusion to what is often the most difficult period of someone’s life. For it to arrive and pass without the fulfillment of the promised conclusion is undoubtedly a devastating realization for those victimized by overdetention. Remembering the Constitutional implications of overdetention puts any claims of staff shortage, technical oversight, or lack of organization in perspective: the stakes are too high for, as the Andres and Brignac suit puts it, “deliberate indifference.”
The cost math behind overdetention is simple: it costs more money to keep people in jail for longer. When a person’s sentence has concluded, there is no fathomable fiscal argument for holding them longer. Louisiana’s Department of Corrections does not have the budgetary or physical wiggle room to keep people detained. Jail populations regularly expand past the rated capacity and prison overcrowding has been a residual issue for both local and state prisons. Moreover, the Louisiana Corrections’ budget has continued to increase, raising questions about the internal strategies that could be driving higher costs.
Andres and Brignac’s suit is far from shocking. In 2019, a state audit found that the Louisiana DPSC failed to properly track inmates release dates. In 2023, the Justice Department found that the Louisiana DPSC “routinely confines people in its custody past the dates when they are legally entitled to be released from custody, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.” This year, Louisiana auditors found that the state’s corrections systems lack a process for calculating and correcting inmates’ sentences to account for things like good time credits. Reflecting on this pattern, Andrea Hagan wrote for the Louisiana Illuminator, “When those who set the standard lower it for themselves and demand the public meet it, a gap opens and respect drains through it. Louisiana holds the people it sentences to the letter of the law. Its corrections department holds itself to whatever its staff can manage.” A department incapable of correctly calculating release dates is not one that can easily garner the trust and confidence that would accompany propositions for increased spending and an expanded budget.
Overdetention in Louisiana touches on crucial pillars of law and order; the United States Constitution, fiscal prudence, building public trust through accountability. Correcting this pattern is an urgent need, and has been for years. The newly filed claims and the recent auditor statements shine a light on an issue that, if solved, could have cascading positive impacts for the way in which the DPSC performs and is perceived.