Louisiana’s prison system has its faults and one of them is that prisoners are not always released until long after their prison terms expire.
According to recent news releases, many sentences including those in the Orleans Justice Center routinely keep prisoners locked up for weeks, months and even years after they are supposed to be released, according to reports from the state auditors, defense attorneys and former inmates.
As a result, hundreds and possibly thousands have been imprisoned for longer than they are sentenced.
Court records show that over the past decade, the occupancy amounted to at least one prisoner is kept in jail longer than his sentence required.
One inmate showed he was imprisoned for 960 days, almost three years after his official release date expired.
Multiple lawsuits as a result have been filed by civil rights lawyers against Louisiana Department of Corrections or the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, which in many cases results in damaged lives and can cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
“The criminal justice system is based on the idea that if you do a crime, you serve your time and then you go free and the going free part is not being carried out correctly in Louisiana,” according to civil rights Attorney William Most.
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