louisiana criminal justice reform
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9 Years a Slave: Black Combat Veteran Freed After Being Legally Enslaved Over $30 Worth of Weed
This headline is clickbait. To be clear, Derrick Harris is Black. He is also a combat veteran who served in the Army during Operation Desert Storm. And, although the Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, the 13th Amendment made a special exception for people who commit a “crime whereof the party shall have been duly…
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Innocent Man Who Served 20 Years for a Crime He Didn’t Commit Forced to Take Plea Deal in Exchange for His Freedom
The wheels of justice turn ever so slowly when you are a black man caught up in a system designed to hold you down. It’s even worse when those who work within that system intentionally do their best to keep you there. Such is the story of Corey Williams of Shreveport, La. Williams is impaired…
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Louisiana Prosecutors Try but Can’t Stop Ex-Felons From Regaining Voting Rights
Despite a last-ditch effort to overturn a recent bill restoring voting rights to ex-felons in Louisiana, legislators in the Statehouse recently passed a bill doing just that, another victory for criminal-justice reform. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that of the 70,000 ex-felons who served time in Louisiana prisons and who are currently on probation or…
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La. Passes Criminal-Justice Reform That Will Reduce Prison Population by 10 Percent
The state with the highest incarceration rate in the U.S. just approved a criminal-justice-reform package that is expected to lower its prison population by 10 percent over the next 10 years. Members of the Louisiana Legislature agreed to the package of bills Thursday; the bills will move on to the desk of Gov. John Bel…