$798 million requested for Louisiana corrections in FY2027. That is a 9% increase from 2024 after adjusting for inflation, and the number is projected to keep climbing.
What Louisiana Built and What Landry Tore Down
Between 2017 and 2021, Louisiana passed bipartisan criminal justice reforms that reduced its prison population by 26%. The state went from the highest incarceration rate in the country to a trajectory that was finally bending downward. The reforms expanded parole eligibility, allowed sentence reductions for good behavior, and redirected savings into reentry programs.
Governor Jeff Landry reversed nearly all of it. In early 2024, he signed legislation that:
- Eliminated parole for anyone convicted of a crime committed after August 1, 2024
- Required inmates to serve 85% of their sentences before good-behavior reductions apply
- Lowered the adult prosecution age from 18 to 17
- Transferred parole board authority to a computerized algorithm, dropping paroled inmates to the lowest level in 20 years
The Numbers Two Years Later
| Metric | Before Landry | Two years later |
|---|---|---|
| State inmates | ~28,000 | ~30,100 (+8%) |
| Corrections budget | $716.5M | $798M requested (+$82M) |
| Parole rate | Steady declines | 20-year low |
| New prison beds | 0 planned | 688 at Angola |
| New correctional officers | — | 150 positions |
The budget includes $17 million to raise the daily rate paid to local sheriffs from $26 to $29 per inmate. Sheriffs house roughly half of Louisiana’s state inmates in local jails under contract.
Where This Goes
The Crime and Justice Institute projects that by 2034, Landry’s policies will:
- Double the state’s prison population from current levels
- Require approximately $2 billion in new prison construction
- Increase elderly and ill inmate populations as longer sentences keep people locked up into old age
One criminologist estimated the population could reach 48,000 inmates within seven to eight years.
Who Gets Caught
Sixty-nine percent of 17-year-olds arrested in major Louisiana parishes faced non-violent charges. Under the new law, they are prosecuted as adults. The state is spending hundreds of millions to incarcerate people who, under the previous reform framework, would have been eligible for parole, diversion, or age-appropriate sentencing.
Why This Matters Beyond Louisiana
Louisiana is a test case. Other red states considering similar rollbacks can see the cost in real time. The reforms that Landry reversed were bipartisan. They worked. The prison population dropped 26%. And now a governor who ran on being tough on crime is asking taxpayers for $798 million to undo that progress.
The Alabama prison system shows what happens further down this road. The pattern repeats: reverse reforms, expand incarceration, spend billions defending the conditions that result.
Read more on the Red States hub and our Louisiana state page.