(The Center Square) — The Louisiana Department of Corrections overstated savings from 2017 Justice Reinvestment Initiative reforms by more than $200,000 out of about $37.8 million, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor reports.
The 10-bill package of JRI reforms approved by Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2017 made changes to sentencing, parole eligibility, and mandatory minimums, as well as other changes aimed at reducing the prison population, especially among non-violent offenders. Those reforms created savings for the state due to the decreased cost to house inmates.
Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack issued a report last week that analyzed how the Department of Corrections calculated the savings, and found the reported total was overstated by about 0.5%.
The DOC worked with The Pew Charitable Trusts to develop a methodology to calculate the JRI savings that involves a baseline inmate count from October 2017, and calculating a monthly savings based on a decline in that count.
“In order to calculate the JRI cost savings, DOC obtains population counts for state inmates located in state and local facilities during the last week of each month and adjusts based on vacant beds, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and previously accounted for savings for each month,” auditors wrote. “This difference in inmate population is then multiplied by the per diem rate to house state offenders locally and the number of days in the month to calculate the monthly savings.”
Auditors found “DOC made data entry errors that overstated total actual JRI savings by $202,714, or 0.5% of the $37,822,556 in JRI savings calculated by DOC,” the report read. “Developing and implementing internal controls, such as policies and procedures and a review process, would help DOC ensure accuracy and consistency when calculating JRI savings.”
State law does not define how DOC should calculate the cost savings, and the DOC’s methodology is in line with PEW’s guidance. But because it’s not included in policy, changes to the methodology in 2019 and 2020, from using actual vacancies to estimated vacancies, skewed the figures, resulting in overestimates in 2019 and 2020 that were largely negated in 2021, auditors wrote.
The DOC has since reverted to actual vacancies.
Other aspects of the report focused on how agencies spent JRI funds.
“During fiscal years 2019 through 2022, DOC spent $39.7 million (72.7%) of its $54.6 million JRI allocation on efforts to enhance reentry services and reduce recidivism,” the report read. “Over this same time period, DOC did not spend $8.3 million (15.3%), so these funds were reverted back to the state general fund.”
The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement spent $13.1 million in JRI funds on a variety of services for crime victims between 2019 and 2022.
“In addition, it carried forward $243,447 into fiscal year 2023 for the Capital Area Family Justice Center, and it did not spend $121,853 of its JRI allocation for those years,” auditors wrote.
The Office of Juvenile Justice spent $4.5 million on alternatives to detention contracts, $4.7 million on diversion programs, and $4 million on its non-secure residential program in fiscal years 2020 through 2022.
“According to OJJ, any budgeted funds that were not spend on alternatives to detention or diversion programs were moved to cover non-secure residential costs,” the report read.
Department of Corrections Undersecretary Thomas Bickham responded to the report in a letter to Waguespack on March 24 and agreed to implement LLA recommendations that included developing policies and procedures for calculating the JRI savings, a review process to ensure accuracy, and including actual expenditures with unique identifiers in annual reports.
