The Facts

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  Louisiana was America’s prison capital

  With almost 40,000 people behind bars, the Pelican State had the highest incarceration rate in the United States. The state has seen a dramatic increase in its prison population over the past twenty years, in part because of mandatory minimum sentencing laws that results in a growing number of nonviolent offenders serving long prison terms without benefit of parole.

  Is Louisiana an outlier in its use of “life without parole” sentences? View our handout.
  Are Louisiana’s longest prison terms out of step with other Southern states? Read our fact sheet.

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  The current system has created high recidivism rates

  Louisiana’s criminal justice system imposes harsh sentences on drug and property offenders while failing to focus on rehabilitation and job training. As a result, many of the ex-offenders re-entering society aren’t ready to tackle the new jobs being created in Louisiana and land back in prison. With so many behind bars, our labor shortage problem has been exacerbated.

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  Nearby states are leading by example

  Legislators around the country have begun takings steps to reduce prison populations without compromising public safety. Notably, conservative states like Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Mississippi have taken steps to steer nonviolent offenders away from prison, emphasize rehabilitation over jail time, and reduce penalties for many drug and property crimes. The Smart on Crime campaign seeks to apply relevant lessons from other states to Louisiana.

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  Criminal justice reform goes beyond bipartisan politics

  Efforts similar to Smart on Crime have received bipartisan support across the nation. The business community is playing an increasingly important role in this trend, and a statewide consortium of business, religious, and civic organizations are committed to developing a more just and sustainable criminal justice system.

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  The Smart on Crime approach is both fiscally and socially responsible for Louisiana

  Our state’s massive prison population is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year, not to mention the mounting social costs that cannot be calculated. Reforms that lead to fewer nonviolent offenders being incarcerated will save the state millions of dollars, improve public safety, and, if a portion of that savings is invested in alternatives to incarceration, increase the likelihood that ex-offenders can successfully rejoin society.