Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill
A civil rights group and two law firms have filed a class-action lawsuit against the head of Louisiana’s Department of Public Safety and Corrections, alleging that the department’s management continues to hold inmates beyond their release dates.
The New-Orleans-based Promise of Justice Initiative and the law firms Most & Associates and Loevy & Loevy filed the federal lawsuit August 28 in the Middle District of Louisiana. The complaint, which was filed against department Secretary Gary Westcott, alleges an overdetention crisis exists in the state and that the problem has continued despite previous lawsuits raising concerns about the practice.
The lawsuit calls on the court to recognize a class numbering in the thousands who remained in the department’s custody since Aug. 29, 2024, and who were held for more than 48 hours beyond their release dates. It also seeks a judgment awarding compensatory and punitive damages to the plaintiffs and members of the class, as well as reasonable attorney fees.
“For years, this rampant, unconstitutional and unconscionable practice – commonly referred to as ‘overdetention’ – has been the subject of internal DOC reports, an investigation by the United States Department of Justice, and numerous individual and class-action lawsuits,” the lawsuit states. “And yet, it continues unabated, because DOC’s leadership, specifically Defendant Gary Westcott … has chosen to allow it to continue.”
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Lisa Andres, was allegedly released in the fall of last year, 101 days after she was entitled to be released, the complaint says.
In the years before Westcott became secretary in 2024, the department’s internal audits, a federal Department of Justice report and findings by the Louisiana legislative auditor all described the department’s overdetention practices, according to the lawsuit.
“He did not inherit a mystery,” the lawsuit said. “He inherited a diagnosis. In the two years since, he has done nothing to end it.”
The complaint also argues that the department has paid a high cost for continuing the policy, to the tune of about $2.5 million annually in housing costs related to over-incarceration.
The department declined to comment on the litigation, but the state Attorney General Liz Murrill said the department has been improving its practices.
“My office has worked with the Louisiana Department of Corrections tirelessly for several years to build and implement a new system, train staff, train sheriffs, and train court and clerk staff across our state,” Murrill said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “These lawsuits are nothing more than an attempt at a money grab. The activists behind these suits do not want progress and actively obstruct it.”
Determining release dates for inmates is not always straightforward, she said.
“Calculating time is a complex task due to the plainly evident fact that detainees do not come into state custody legally or physically until after they are sentenced.” Murrill said.
Cecelia Kappell, deputy director of litigation and special projects for the Promise of Justice Initiative, emphasized that federal officials and the courts have detailed the department’s “systemic failures.”
““People are left to rot inside of dangerous jail facilities, often hundreds of miles from home, while families are left waiting for loved ones who don’t come home as expected,” Kappell said in a prepared statement. “The principle that you should be released from when your sentence is over should be obvious.”
