BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Louisiana lawmakers are looking at keeping people in prison for all of their sentences doled out by the judge with bills aiming to do away with parole and significantly reduce good time earned. But how much will that cost the state? The exact amount is unclear.
There is some debate over how much the cost will be depending on how many people are convicted, how many are in state vs. local facilities, and a number of other factors.
In the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, lawmakers questioned the Legislative Fiscal Office on if they are potentially exaggerating the potential costs. A representative with the LFO said they are trying to show the full scope of the issue with the limited data they have been presented. This is the first time the cost of HB9 and HB10 was the focus of discussion as the bills bypassed the House Appropriations Committee with a supermajority of members voting to suspend the rules earlier in the week.
The two bills are dubbed the Truth in Sentencing bills and would have a great impact on most of the other bills proposed in this special session. HB9 would do away with the option for parole for all people who commit crimes after Aug. 2024. The bill author, state Rep. Debbie Villio (R-Kenner), said she wants to stop inmates from going in and out of jail. She also wants judges to know the sentences they give will be served.
The fiscal note attached to the bill from the LFO shows there will be an increase in spending to hold people in state and local prisons longer. It will cost $107.60 per offender per day to house them in a state facility and $26.39 for local facilities.
An example provided by the LFO said over the last three years, on average, 595 inmates were granted parole. 48% of inmates live in state facilities and 52% live in local facilities. The Department of Corrections could see an estimated increase of $11.2 million for state facilities and $2.9 million in local facilities per year to house people longer.
There could be a savings in cost with less parole officers needed going forward as parole will no longer be granted for new offenders and those still eligible will reduce over time.
But Villio believes this is not an accurate way to calculate the impact of her legislation. She believes with the certainty in sentencing it will lead to judges giving shorter sentences, ultimately not having people in prison longer.
“This fiscal note it’s just wrong. I could say it’s disingenuous at best. I could say that it’s with a lack of understanding of what goes on. I don’t know what goes behind it, but it’s certaintly inconsistent,” Villio said.
HB10 would greatly reduce the amount of time that can be shaved off of someone’s sentence for good behavior. Currently, the state law dictates a sentence can be diminished “at the rate of thirteen days for every seven days in actual custody served on the imposed sentence, including time spent in custody with good behavior prior to sentencing.” The bill would change that to just 15% of the sentence can be taken off.
The fiscal note explains the cost to the state will increase by at least $5 million but they are looking for more information to find a method to calculate how much it will cost in the out years.
A representative from the Department of Corrections argued the local facilities would see the largest impact from this legislation since the state facilities are often full.
According to the Louisiana Parole Board’s annual report for 2023, it shows there are 17,918 people on parole. Of those, 2,529 are on regular parole and 15,389 are on good time parole.
Some lawmakers are concerned about the speed in which bills are being passed without in-depth discussion about how much it will really cost the state.
“When this budget starts falling off the cliff in a couple of years, then we only have two areas we can cut and it’s going to be, you know, education and health care,” state Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said. “We need to be fiscally responsible when we approach this issue of crime.”
Both bills need approval from the full Senate.
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