BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Gov. John Bel Edwards is announcing details of nearly $7 million in spending across Louisiana on prisoner rehabilitation and education programs, crime victims’ services and other criminal justice initiatives.
The dollars come from savings associated with shrinking Louisiana’s prison population through sentencing law changes enacted in 2017. Seventy percent of the savings under the law must be reinvested in the criminal justice system.
“The dollars that we are saving from reforming our criminal justice system are going to fund programs that will have a positive impact on our people and our communities,” Edwards said in a statement.
Much of this year’s money will be spread across five parishes that house 40 percent of the state’s inmates: Caddo, East Baton Rouge, Orleans, St. Tammany and Jefferson parishes. The Democratic governor was announcing the spending at area events Wednesday and Thursday.
Dollars will pay sheriffs and other local service providers to boost efforts aimed at keeping people leaving prison from returning to crime, such as substance abuse treatment, anger management, educational training, work skills programs, job placement services and transitional housing. Money also will be spent on programs for victims of crime.
Among the plans, Caddo Parish will receive $912,568; East Baton Rouge Parish will receive $1.6 million; Orleans Parish will receive $2 million; St. Tammany Parish will receive $562,008 and Jefferson Parish will receive $794,433.
For victims’ services, some dollars will pay restitution claims to crime victims. Other money will pay for computer upgrades allowing clerks of court in all 64 Louisiana parishes to access a notification system to alert crime victims when an offender is released from prison or moved.
Of the dollars allocated to East Baton Rouge Parish, nearly half will pay to establish a center to aid victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking by connecting them to available counseling and other services.
The state corrections department says Louisiana is spending $12.2 million less this year than it would have spent on prisons because of the criminal justice overhaul. Under the law, about $8.5 million must be reinvested in the criminal justice system. Some of the money will stay with the corrections department for its prisoner programs.
Lawmakers agreed to the spending in August.
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