Last updated: Feb 23, 2024 

CJI has worked with Louisiana’s justice systems since 2016, with the legislature, the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, the courts, and two state task forces. The work has covered Justice Reinvestment policy and its implementation, reentry and corrections practice, supervision and record clearing, and women’s incarceration. 

At a glance

  • Years: 2016–2024 
  • Worked with: the legislature, the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, the courts, the Justice Reinvestment Task Force, the Women’s Incarceration Task Force, and community reentry providers 
  • Where: Statewide, including every state prison 
  • Areas: Justice Reinvestment, reentry and corrections practice, supervision and record clearing, women’s incarceration 
  • What the state reported: In 2018, the state’s first Justice Reinvestment performance report showed Louisiana no longer had the nation’s highest imprisonment rate (Department of Public Safety and Corrections and Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, 2018). By 2023, the prison population had fallen 26% from 2016 (CJI analysis of state data, 2023). 
  • In the news: In May 2026, ProPublica and Verite News cited CJI’s projection that the 2024 limits on earned-time credit could double Louisiana’s prison population by 2034 and require about $2 billion in new prison capacity.

 

Most recent campaign

2024 special session on crime 

In 2024, Louisiana’s legislature passed bills changing parole eligibility, earned-time credit, and sanctions for technical probation violations. See CJI’s analysis. 

 

CJI’s work in Louisiana

Justice Reinvestment, 2016–2024 

In 2016, Louisiana’s leaders began a bipartisan Justice Reinvestment effort to address the state’s prison population. CJI provided technical assistance as the state developed its 2017 legislation, supported the agencies putting it into practice, and measured the results. After the 2017 legislation, Louisiana’s prison population fell 26%, and the state reinvested nearly $107 million in supportive services, according to CJI’s 2023 analysis. In 2024, CJI analyzed legislation from the special session on crime that changed several of the 2017 policies. 

  • Policy analysis, 2016–2017: Provided technical assistance alongside The Pew Charitable Trusts to the Justice Reinvestment Task Force. The governor signed the task force’s recommendations into law as a 10-bill package in June 2017. See Louisiana’s Justice Reinvestment record. 
  • Implementation support, 2017–2023: With Bureau of Justice Assistance funding, joined the implementation phase, working with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, the courts, and other agencies on performance metrics and evaluation. Co-hosted Second Chance Month reentry events with the department in 2022 and 2023. 
  • Outcome measurement, 2023–2024: Analyzed the 2017 legislation’s effects on the prison population, supervision, and reinvestment. 
  • Policy analysis, 2024: Analyzed the 2024 special session legislation and projected its costs to the state and parishes. See CJI’s analysis. 

Key publications: Louisiana Justice Reinvestment: Improving public safety, reinvesting in evidence-based practices (outcome report, June 2023), Louisiana’s 2017 legislation and its effects (outcome analysis, July 2024), Statewide costs of the 2024 legislation (cost projection, February 2024) 

Reentry and corrections practice, 2017–2024 

The Department of Public Safety and Corrections has built evidence-based practice into how its staff, incarcerated peer leaders, and community partners work with people in custody and returning home. CJI trained staff statewide and helped extend that training to incarcerated peer leaders and community providers. The department also created an Emergency Transitional Housing program in 2019, funded with Justice Reinvestment savings, which had served 1,667 residents across 16 parishes as of April 2024. 

  • Implementation support, 2017: Trained probation officers and transition specialists statewide in Core Correctional Practices and the Principles of Effective Intervention. 
  • Implementation support, 2021–2022: Trained group facilitators as the department extended its cognitive behavioral curriculum to incarcerated tutors and mentors, starting at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and expanding to every state facility. Read about the peer leader initiative. 
  • Implementation support, 2022: With a Bureau of Justice Assistance reentry grant, trained case managers, employment specialists, and treatment providers at Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana, the Reentry Mediation Institute of Louisiana, The Level Up Camp, and Socialworx. Read about the expanded trainings. 

Key publications: Successful reentry through safe housing solutions (July 2024) · Investing in Louisiana communities through the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (report, May 2021) 

Supervision and record clearing, 2020–2022 

Louisiana’s 2017 legislation shortened probation terms, and in 2020 the legislature expanded record clearing and changed supervision practices. CJI provided technical assistance on the record-clearing legislation and later assessed how the probation changes were carried out. 

  • Policy analysis, 2020: Provided technical assistance to state leaders on Clean Slate legislation. The legislature passed Acts 70, 71, and 78 and House Resolution 67, which took effect August 1, 2020. Read about the record-clearing legislation. 
  • Outcome measurement, 2017–2022: With the Urban Institute, assessed Louisiana’s and Georgia’s 2017 changes to probation sentence length. Probation sentence lengths fell in both states, with variation across each state. See CJI’s community supervision policy assessment briefs. 

Key publications: Probation sentence length in Louisiana and Georgia (policy assessment, January 2022) 

Women’s incarceration, 2019–2022 

In 2018, the legislature created the Louisiana Women’s Incarceration Task Force through House Concurrent Resolution 27 to study how the justice system affects women. CJI staffed and facilitated the task force process with Bureau of Justice Assistance funding. The task force sent 21 recommendations to the legislature in June 2020, and in 2022 the state broke ground on a new women’s prison designed around the task force’s findings. 

  • Policy analysis, 2019–2020: Staffed and facilitated the task force and supported its recommendations. 
  • Implementation support, 2020–2022: Helped the Department of Public Safety and Corrections develop a gender-responsive strategic plan. 

Key publications: Louisiana Women’s Incarceration Task Force report (2020)

Legislative sessions 

  • 2024 special session: Crime. The legislature passed HB9, HB10, and HB11, changing parole eligibility, earned-time credit, and sanctions for technical probation violations, and the governor signed them on March 5, 2024. See CJI’s analysis. 
  • 2020 session: Supervision, reentry, and record clearing. The legislature passed bills on virtual supervision check-ins, supervision levels and fees, restrictive housing for pregnant and postpartum people, and expanded record clearing. Read CJI’s coverage of the supervision and reentry bills and the record-clearing legislation. 
  • 2017 session: Justice Reinvestment. The legislature passed 10 bills based on the Justice Reinvestment Task Force’s recommendations. Read CJI’s explainer on the 2017 process and its analysis of the legislation’s effects. 

Publications

See all CJI publications on Louisiana 

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