State accused of \u2018systemic overdetention\u2019 that violates inmates\u2019 rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Louisiana<\/a>\u2019s prison system routinely holds people weeks and months after they have completed their sentences, the US justice department alleged in a lawsuit filed on Friday. The suit against the state of Louisiana follows a multi-year investigation into what federal officials say is a pattern of \u201csystemic overdetention\u201d that violates inmates\u2019 rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The justice department alleges that since at least 2012, more than a quarter of the people due to be released from Louisiana<\/a> prisons have instead been held past their release dates. The DoJ warned Louisiana officials last year that the state could face a lawsuit if it didn\u2019t fix the problems \u2013 but lawyers for the department say the state\u2019s \u201cmarginal efforts\u201d to address the issues were \u201cinadequate\u201d and showed a \u201cdeliberate indifference\u201d to the constitutional rights of incarcerated individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c(T)he right to individual liberty includes the right to be released from incarceration on time after the term set by the court has ended,\u201d assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke said in a statement announcing the suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo incarcerate people indefinitely \u2026 not only intrudes on individual liberty but also erodes public confidence in the fair and just application of our laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a joint statement provided to the Associated Press, the Louisiana governor, Jeff Landry<\/a>, and state attorney general, Liz Murrill blamed the problem on the \u201cfailed criminal justice reforms\u201d advanced by \u201cthe past administration\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis past year, we have taken significant action to keep Louisianans safe and ensure those who commit the crime, also do the time,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cThe state of Louisiana is committed to preserving the constitutional rights of Louisiana citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Republican state officials also characterized the effort as a last-ditch lawsuit by outgoing president Joe Biden, reasoning that the incoming administration of Donald Trump would not have allowed the case to be filed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocates have repeatedly challenged the conditions in Louisiana\u2019s prison system, which includes the country\u2019s largest maximum-security prison, known as Angola<\/a>, where incarcerated individuals toil under the blazing sun picking vegetables by hand at what was once a slave plantation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n