BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — How effective are Louisiana's efforts to reform criminal justice? A report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor found that progress has been made, but improved data tracking could make it easier for the state to see what's working and what should be adjusted.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor reviewed data tied to the Justice Reinvestment Initiative from October 2017 through fiscal year 2023 and surveyed criminal justice workers throughout the state.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance and The Pew Charitable Trusts sponsored the JRI project. Louisiana is one of 44 states that have implemented reforms.

According to the LLA report, the program helps state work to improve public safety by:

• Using data to find and improve areas.
• Consider prison and court spending.
• Find ways to cut costs to manage prison or jail populations.
• Use savings to reduce crime and recidivism.

The LLA report noted a 2022 report that showed $152.7 million in cumulative savings were generated by the initiative between October 2017 and June 2022. Thirty percent of savings are sent back to the state's general fund. The remaining 70% gets reinvested into the Department of Corrections, Office of Juvenile Justice, Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

Louisiana had four main goals for Louisiana's JRI work, dating back to 10 laws then-Gov. John Bel Edwards signed into law in 2017. The goals are to:

• Reserve prison spots for serious, dangerous offenders.
• Increase supervision in communities.
• Help former prisoners re-enter society successfully and quickly.
• Use savings to help victims and reduce recidivism.

The LLA found that Louisiana doesn't have one unified criminal justice system, which makes tracking the data difficult.

The LLA suggested that the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections or Office of Juvenile Justice create goals and ways to track them. That way the state can effectively see what's working well or needs to be fixed.

About half of state inmates are held in local or parish jail facilities. Based on the DOC's Corrections And Justice Unified Network (CAJUN) data, the LLA found that as of Friday, June 30, 2023, there were 12,999 inmates in state correctional facilities and 14,988 in local correctional facilities. The LLA said this also means sheriff's offices might not have money available for rehab and re-entry services.

Fewer than half of inmates are taking part in JRI programs, the LLA noted.

The LLA found that since JRI initiatives started, the state's number of prisoners decreased, and the percentage of violent offenders increased.

However, while the number of repeat offenders is lower than five years before JRI was implemented, those returning are doing so faster than before. Violent felons also are more likely to return to prison.

Former inmates who get career training and find jobs in that field have good outcomes, the LLA said. But a small number have been able to get a job in their chosen career and technical training field.

The LLA made 12 recommendations to improve the program, nine targeted toward the DOC and three for the OJJ. They were tied to tracking specific programs and improving the data available.

The DOC agreed with all but one of the recommendations. The LLA said the state office should work to be sure state statutes are properly added in CAJUN and that courts are communicated with. The DOC said the database already is accurate and cited regular audits and an update in 2021.

The OJJ agreed to all three and plans to create ways to track how well programs perform and implement the suggestions.

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