Fact Check#Does Louisiana Have Twice As Many People In Jail As Other States

The state flag of Louisiana

June 12, 2017
By Sara Reynolds

Louisiana lawmakers have passed a package of bills to reduce criminal sentences, including removing mandatory minimums under some circumstances, expanding parole options, and providing alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders.^[1] According to Louisiana State Senator Danny Martiny, “We don’t have twice as many criminals as everybody else. We just have twice as many people in jail as everybody else.”^[2]

Is Sen. Martiny correct? Does Louisiana have twice as many people in jail as everybody else?

Louisiana has the highest overall incarceration rate (779 per 100,000) based on the latest data available, but that rate isn’t twice as much as all other states. Louisiana also led the nation in the rate of inmates incarcerated for nonviolent crimes in 2012.^[3][4][5]

Background

Ten bills proposing changes to Louisiana's criminal justice system were recently passed in the Louisiana State Legislature, where they received bipartisan support.^[6] The bills reduce sentencing and probation periods, in some cases removing mandatory minimums; lessen the financial burden of offenders by suspending child care payments during incarceration and providing alternatives to restitution payments upon release; eliminate restrictions on food stamp eligibility for drug offenders and on occupational license issuance for all offenders; and allow crime victims to request conditions upon release or parole of an offender.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

One bill, House Bill 489, requires the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections to allocate "savings realized as a result of criminal justice reforms" to victims services, grants to reduce the state prison population, rehabilitation programs, and more.^[16] The bills are expected to save $262 million over the next 10 years.^[17]

The reforms, if approved by the governor, would primarily affect nonviolent offenders, although one bill—SB 139—would increase the rate at which some first-time violent offenders accrue credit for good behavior and expand parole options for violent offenders.^[18][8]

Louisiana led the nation in the incarceration rate of nonviolent offenders at 495 per 100,000 population in 2012, the latest year for such data. Massachusetts incarcerated nonviolent offenders at the lowest rate, 48 per 100,000 population.^[19][20]

The bills are expected to reduce the state's prison population by 10 percent over the next decade.^[18] As of March 2017, Louisiana's total prison population was 35,768, including those housed in state institutions, local jails, and transitional work program facilities. The population is 67 percent black and 33 percent white. 94.2 percent of the prison population is male and the average inmate age is 36.8 years old. The average sentence length of the current population of inmates is 16 years.^[21]

Sen. Martiny (R-District 10) has served in the Louisiana State Senate since 2007 and, before that, in the Louisiana House of Representatives (1994 to 2007).^[22] He is the author of Senate Bill 139. It passed 74 to 31 in the House and 20 to 13 in the Senate and was sent to the governor for signing.^[23]

Louisiana incarceration rate

In 2015, the most recent year with available data, Louisiana's incarceration rate was 779 inmates per 100,000 population, the highest in the country. Massachusetts had the lowest rate, at 146 inmates per 100,000 population. Relative to the state’s population, Louisiana prisons held twice as many inmates as 24 other states.^[3]

Conclusion

Louisiana recently passed 10 bills to reduce criminal sentences, expand parole options, and provide alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders. State Senator Danny Martiny claimed, “We don’t have twice as many criminals as everybody else. We just have twice as many people in jail as everybody else.”^[2]

Louisiana's incarceration rate of 779 inmates per 100,000 population is the highest nationwide—although not “twice as many ... as everybody else,” as Martiny claimed.^[2][3]

See also

• Fact check: Is the death penalty more expensive than life in prison?
• Fact check: Did John Bel Edwards vote to give "convicts" taxpayer funded pension plans?
• Public policy in Louisiana

Sources and Notes[edit]