HLS 23RS-2258 ORIGINAL
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 87
BY REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES OWEN
CORRECTIONS/PRISONERS: Requests the Department of Public Safety and Corrections
to provide information on inmate release dates
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to provide information
3 pertaining to incarcerated individuals in the department's custody who have been
4 held beyond their scheduled release dates and to report this information to the
5 legislature no later than October 1, 2023.
6 WHEREAS, Louisiana has one of the highest incarceration rates in the United States;
7and
8 WHEREAS, roughly two hundred inmates are held beyond their legal release dates
9on any given month in Louisiana, which amounts to two thousand to two thousand five
10hundred of the twelve thousand to sixteen thousand prisoners freed each year; and
11 WHEREAS, in 2019, the average length of additional time until an individual's
12release was around forty-four days with potential waiting periods that could last up to ninety
13days; and
14 WHEREAS, from January through April in 2022, twenty-seven percent of the
15individuals who were legally entitled to be released from state custody were held past their
16scheduled release dates, with twenty-four percent of those individuals being held for at least
17ninety days or longer; and
18 WHEREAS, multiple class action lawsuits have been filed against Louisiana for the
19failure to release incarcerated individuals on their scheduled release dates.
20 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
21urge and request the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to provide information
Page 1 of 2 HLS 23RS-2258 ORIGINAL
HCR NO. 87
1pertaining to incarcerated individuals in the department's custody who have been held
2beyond their scheduled release dates and to report this information to the legislature no later
3than October 1, 2023.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the information shall contain all of the
5following:
6 (1) The number of individuals in the department's custody who have been held past
7their release date within the past year.
8 (2) The number of individuals in the department's custody who have been held past
9their release date within the past two years.
10 (3) The number of individuals in the department's custody who have been held past
11their release date within the past five years.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that within the information regarding the number of
13individuals in the department's custody who have been held beyond their scheduled release
14dates, the following information shall also be provided:
15 (1) Where these individuals were housed.
16 (2) The number of days these individuals were held beyond their scheduled release
17dates.
18 (3) The official reason why these individuals were held beyond their scheduled
19release dates.
20 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
21secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall submit one print copy and
23one electronic copy of any report produced pursuant to this Resolution to the David R.
24Poynter Legislative Research Library as required by R.S. 24:772.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 87 Original 2023 Regular Session Charles Owen
Requests the DPS&C to provide information pertaining to incarcerated individuals in the
department's custody who have been held beyond their scheduled release dates and to report
this information to the legislature no later than Oct. 1, 2023.
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