BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Two bills passed out of committee in the crime-focused session Wednesday that would impact how long someone sentenced to prison will have to remain there.
HB9 would revoke parole for people who commit crimes after Aug. 1, 2024. Sixteen other states and the federal prison system currently don’t have parole. Those for the bill believe it would prevent the revolving door of people going in and out of prison by requiring them to serve the majority of their sentence in prison.
“For those of you who believe parole should be considered for a person 18 years or older who commits a heinous crime for which the sentence of life is imposed, there’s likely very little I can say to you to make a difference,” said state Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner.
HB10 goes hand in hand with HB9 and would significantly reduce the amount of a sentence that can be shaved off through good behavior to just 15%. 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.”
“We will retake our title again as the highest incarcerator in the nation,” said former state Rep. Joe Marino.
The bill would also revoke pretrial time served. Thus, the time served in jail before conviction will no longer go towards time served after someone is sentenced.
Those against the bill said taking away the hope of parole and good behavior rewards will reduce the number of inmates engaged in programs. For an inmate to be granted parole from the Parole Board they have to partake in educational, literacy and job skills programs among other requirements.
People released on parole also are closely monitored by a parole officer and have to follow strict rules. If someone is released at the end of their sentence without parole they would not have to go through the same supervision. One man who was incarcerated said taking that away can make it more difficult for some to reintegrate back into society.
“The thing is, if we’re going to just take that away, particularly for people who are incarcerated for serious crimes, and if we’re just going to make it so you’re walking out the door someday, well, we’re losing that tool in the toolbox,” said Bruce Riley, policy director of Voice of the Experienced.
According to the Louisiana Parole Board annual report for 2023, it shows there are significantly higher recidivism rates for people who are released from prison at the end of their sentence rather than released on parole. The report also states there are currently a total of 17,918 people on parole. Of those, 2,529 are on regular parole and 15,389 are on good time parole.
Advocates also argued that judges would be giving out shorter sentences since inmates would not be released on parole. Villioi argued it is up to a judge to determine how long they should serve and they already are giving longer sentences to ensure a certain amount of time is served despite good time and parole eligibility.
“The relationship between sentence length and time served is not linear. It’s a function of the degree of determinant of the sentence. Generally speaking, courts determine sentence length according to an expectation of how long they think someone may serve,” Villio said.
There was debate over how much these bills will cost the state to keep people in prison longer but no answer was available on how much it will increase. Villio said no cost is too much.
Both bills advanced to the full House. The special session can only last until March 6.
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