In February 2024, Governor Jeff Landry called a special legislative session focused exclusively on criminal justice — and in the space of a few days, the Louisiana Legislature passed a package of bills that largely dismantled the sentencing reforms enacted under the 2017 Justice Reinvestment Act (JRI), which had been one of the most substantial bipartisan criminal justice reform efforts in Louisiana history. The reversal was swift, politically decisive, and — according to analysts at the Pew Charitable Trusts, who had helped design the original 2017 reforms — likely to increase Louisiana's prison population by more than 5,000 people by 2028 and to cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in new prison construction and operating costs.
What the 2017 Justice Reinvestment Act Did
The 2017 JRI was a rare legislative accomplishment — a broad bipartisan coalition of conservatives and progressives in a deeply red state agreeing that Louisiana's status as the world's prison capital by incarceration rate was unsustainable. The reforms included:
- Expansion of good-time credits that allowed people to earn earlier release through good behavior and program participation
- Reduction of mandatory minimum sentences for some non-violent and drug offenses
- Expansion of parole eligibility for non-violent offenders
- Investment of a portion of corrections savings into community supervision and reentry services
The result, between 2017 and 2023, was a measurable decrease in Louisiana's prison population — one of the few concrete success stories in the national criminal justice reform landscape.
What the 2024 Special Session Reversed
Governor Landry's 2024 special session package — signed into law in March 2024 — reversed or significantly curtailed most of the 2017 gains:
- Good-time credits eliminated for violent offenders: People convicted of crimes designated as violent must now serve 85 percent of their sentence with no opportunity to earn early release through programming or behavior
- Expanded list of "violent" offenses: The definition of "violent crime" was broadened to include offenses that were not previously in that category, dramatically expanding the population subject to mandatory near-full-time service
- Mandatory minimums reinstated or increased: Minimum sentence requirements were raised for several categories of offense
- Parole restrictions tightened: Eligibility criteria for parole were narrowed, making early release harder for a broader population
The Fiscal Reckoning
The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office both projected the new laws would significantly expand the prison population — adding thousands of people to a system that was already at or near capacity. Louisiana's existing prisons do not have the bed space to absorb a 5,000+ person increase without new construction or new private prison contracts — and the estimated cost of that capacity addition ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Critics argued that the 2024 session was fiscally irresponsible in addition to being harsh — trading confirmed savings from the 2017 reforms for speculative public safety gains at enormous cost.
What This Means for Families With Loved Ones in Louisiana Prisons
If your loved one was sentenced before the 2024 changes, the new laws generally do not apply retroactively — but confirm this with an attorney, as some provisions may affect ongoing parole eligibility calculations. If sentenced after the 2024 session, the applicable good-time, parole, and mandatory minimum rules are dramatically more restrictive. An attorney familiar with current Louisiana sentencing law is essential for anyone navigating sentencing or parole in 2024-2026.
Louisiana DOC headquarters: 504 Mayflower Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. Phone: (225) 342-6740. Website: doc.louisiana.gov.