The Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment in routinely keeping prisoners incarcerated beyond their release date, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
The DOJ concluded that overdetention neglects the right to equal protection established by the amendment and that the Louisiana agency is indifferent to the policy failures.
The legal precedent established by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals holds that any detention of over 30 days past a scheduled release date qualifies as a denial of due process rights, according to a DOJ report.
The Louisiana prison system has had notice of its overdetention issues since at least 2012, with legislative investigations in 2017 and 2019 further highlighting the problems.