re: Gov. Landry looking to greatly expand his political power

quote:

---

Hate him all you want but they got some good things changed with respect to crime.

---

The changes made during the crime session are all changes that will cost the state more money than what is being spent right now, with likely little to no return as it relates to public safety. It was also completely irresponsible, from a dollars and cents state budget perspective, especially when the state is projected to head to a fiscal cliff next year with the 0.45% sales tax set to expire.

Louisiana (before the crime session) had close to the highest rate of per capita incarceration relative to its population than any state within the United States. Removing parole and limiting the amount of time that inmates can earn credit for good time is only going to keep them in prison longer and require the state to expend more money on keeping inmates housed and fed, with medical care, for a longer period of time.

The crime rate is likely not going to go down, either. Louisiana has a high number of people who are either poor or working poor. You want to fix crime? Fix poverty.

The people who were in favor of this bill (like the Sheriff's Association) are people who depend on getting money from the state for each warm body that is in their local jail. Imprisoning people is a cottage industry, especially in a lot of the rural parishes in the state. Disincentivize the money shifted by the state to local jails, and then placing people in prison for longer periods of time won't be as attractive.