Louisiana could lengthen probation period after shortening it 5 months ago

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An attempt to undo part of the Louisiana's historic criminal justice overhaul approved just last year moved forward in the Legislature Wednesday (March 21).

State Rep. Sherman Mack's proposal would automatically lengthen probation periods to five years from three years, reversing a change that took effect just five months ago as part of a package of revisions meant to lower Louisiana's highest-in-the-country incarceration rate.

The legislation would also require judges to be more involved in ending an inmate's probation early if they are well behaved, taking that decision away from probation officers. If the changes go into effect, it could create more work for probation officers and public defenders, according to opponents.


Prosecutors were in negotiations with Gov. John Bel Edwards on Monday trying to reach a compromise, meaning much of the current legislation could be altered.
The House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee approved House Bill 195 on an 8-7 vote that broke down along mostly partisan lines. Democrats and an independent representative on the committee voted against the proposal. Republicans supported the bill. It goes next to the House floor.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, and several advocates for prisoners and ex-inmates opposed Mack's proposal. District attorneys and some local judges are in favor of it.

Lawmakers are proposing changes to Louisiana's 2017 criminal justice package already. Under Mack's bill, probation and parole officers would be required to write reports on the people they supervise on a regular basis. They currently handle hundreds of cases at a time, and Rep. Joe Marino, I-Gretna, said the additional workload would be significant.

Sarah O'Brien, a public defender from New Orleans, said her caseload could triple if Mack's legislation passed because it would require her to go to court with her clients on probation much more often. The state has 43,000 people currently serving probation, and Mack's proposal would add thousands of court hearings every year.


"There are not enough hours in the day for probation and parole officers to do all the things they have to do already," said Norris Henderson, a former Angola inmate who advocates for sentencing changesThe legislation frustrated Democrats.

Part of the criminal justice overhaul last year was supposed to lighten the caseload for parole and probation officers and allow them to focus more on those people who are most likely to violate probation or need help. The Mack legislation would unwind that part of the criminal justice package.

Elain Ellerbe, Louisiana director for the conservative reform advocacy Right on Crime organization, said several other states previously passed probation laws similar to the ones Louisiana put in place last year. Arkansas, South Carolina and Kentucky are among them.

Mack and proponents said the bill is meant to "clean up" the criminal justice overhaul, not erase it. State District Judge Robert Morrison, who supports Mack's bill, said last year's changes have made it harder to convince defendants to participate in drug courts and other specialty programs that have a much better track record with reducing recidivism rates.

"We are not trying to undermine anything you did last year," said Morrison, who presides over cases in Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes. "We are having real experience on the ground with people who won't enter drug court because they think it is easier to do a year and a half [of probation]."


Marino and Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, disagreed. Both work as defense attorneys and said defendants are usually only offered drug court and other options as an alternative to a long prison sentence. Typically, people on probation haven't committed an offense so serious that it would push them into drug court in the first place, they said.

The number of people in specialty programs is also relatively small, around 1,200. Mack's proposal would change the rules for everyone on probation -- around 43,000 people, which worries James.

"This seems to me like a solution in search of a problem," he said.

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