Louisiana prisoner releases hit 20-year low as state tightens parole laws

Parole releases in Louisiana have plummeted to their lowest level in two decades under Governor Jeff Landry, the most significant impact yet of his "tough on crime" agenda.

The state’s parole board released 185 prisoners during Landry’s first two years in office, a 78% decrease from the 858 people released during the previous two-year period, according to an analysis by Verite News and ProPublica.

Hundreds of inmates who likely would have been granted freedom under previous administrations remain behind bars with little chance of early release.

The decline follows a 2024 overhaul of the state's parole system. New legislation now bans parole for any individual convicted after August 1, 2024.

For those currently incarcerated, the state has tightened eligibility requirements. Inmates must now maintain a clean disciplinary record for three years, up from the previous one-year requirement, and must be deemed low-risk by an automated scoring system.

These restrictive measures have led to a sharp reduction in both parole applications and scheduled hearings.

Governor Jeff Landry’s recent policy overhaul represents more than a mere statistical adjustment; it marks a fundamental paradigm shift in Louisiana’s criminal justice philosophy. For decades, the state’s parole system functioned as a mechanism to incentivize rehabilitation and facilitate community reintegration. Under the new administration, however, this restorative approach has been supplanted by a "tough on crime" mandate that prioritizes retribution and political signaling over prisoner reform.

The elimination of early-release opportunities for good conduct has raised significant concerns regarding prison stability. Defense advocates warn that stripping incarcerated individuals of incentives for self-improvement creates a climate of despair, which in turn threatens to undermine institutional discipline and safety.

Governor Landry has further consolidated executive control over the process by appointing five of the seven members of the Board of Pardons and Parole, ensuring the body’s decisions remain in lockstep with his administration’s platform. The case of Ray Soileau serves as a stark illustration of this new reality: despite securing the support of both the local police and the victim—his own mother—Soileau’s petition was derailed by a single dissenting vote from a Landry appointee. The incident underscores a board that now weighs the original offense almost exclusively, largely disregarding evidence of remorse or the presence of a viable community reentry plan.

Louisiana has also distinguished itself as the only state to utilize a rigid risk-scoring system to automatically disqualify candidates from the parole process. This shift toward algorithmic decision-making reflects a broader trend toward a dehumanized justice system, where data-driven metrics supersede the nuanced, individual assessments essential to the clemency process.

Louisiana is home to a robust Vietnamese-American community, particularly in New Orleans and the state’s coastal enclaves. While the data may not explicitly track ethnicity, the tightening of parole laws and more aggressive sentencing often have a disproportionate impact on immigrant and minority populations. For families in neighborhoods like Little Saigon or those working in the nail salon industry and phở restaurants, these criminal justice shifts mean longer periods of separation and a heavier economic burden. This strain is felt deeply by households already navigating the complexities of remittances and the long wait times for visa categories like F2B, H-1B, or EB-5, further complicating the community's path toward stability.