The Louisiana Department of Corrections is asking an additional $21.5 million for the next fiscal budget. Brooke Thorington has more on why the figure is so high.
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Legislation is set to be filed that would fund a 15 million dollar expansion of the drug court program using funds obtained from opioid settlements. Matt Doyle has the story…
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Republicans say President Joe Biden’s immigration policy changes are directly responsible for the 20 year high in border crossings. Matt Doyle has more.
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The Louisiana Department of Corrections is seeking an additional $21.5 million for the next fiscal budget. Undersecretary at the Department of Corrections, Thomas Bickham says the figure represents what the department usually spends on overtime.
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Bickham says the department currently needs to fill about 36-percent of their mandatory guard positions which means employees are having to work overtime to make up for the shortage.
Cut 5 (06)“…first year.”
The $21.5 million figure also includes a ten percent pay raise for entry-level correctional officers upping the starting salary for cadets to around $32,000 annually in hopes of attracting new employees.
Bickham says if approved the department will also fund a retention program to reduce their 73% employee turnover rate. It is aimed at existing frontline employees in their first three years of employment.
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Bickham says they have found if an employee makes it past their third year, they usually stay. They are also looking at improving training and work conditions for employees.
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Severe weather is in the forecast for the Bayou State along with much of the southeast today. State Climatologist Barry Keim says the storm prediction center has northwest and central parts of the state under an enhanced risk of severe weather and northeast Louisiana is under a moderate risk for dicey weather today.
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Keim says once the bumpy weather passes we’ll see cooler temperatures. Just a reminder we’ve reached that time of year when we’ll have summer-like temperatures and then a front will come barreling through…
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Keim says it’s only the beginning of high-risk thunderstorms that can produce hail, high winds, and tornadoes as we undergo sudden temperature changes in the spring.
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An Enhanced risk means a greater concentration of organized severe thunderstorms with varying levels of intensity.
A Moderate risk indicates the potential for widespread severe weather with several tornadoes and/or numerous severe thunderstorms, some of which may be intense.
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A bipartisan group proposes legislation that would greatly expand the drug court program using funds obtained from opioid settlements.
Attorney General Jeff Landry says under the bill all arrestees would be drug tested, and if positive be screened for suitability in the addiction recovery based “drug court” program.
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The legislation is the result of a bipartisan legislative committee that spent the last year investigating a potential expansion of drug courts. The bill is set to be introduced by Port Allen Senator Rick Ward.
The bill would pump an additional 14 to 15 million dollars a year into the criminal justice system to fund the program. District Court Judge Don Johnson says it would have a three to four times rate of return.
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Landry says Department of Corrections stats show drug courts had a six percent three-year recidivism rate for 2016 graduates. That’s compared to a 15 percent one-year recidivism rate for the average inmate.
Jennifer Hollahan, a drug court graduate, says the multi-phase, long-term program is more effective than the usual one-month rehab facility stints that fail so many addicts.
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The legislation would also give local authorities the option to enroll violent offenders in the program if they deem it safe to do so.
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Border crossings have hit a 20 year high as increasing numbers of immigrants are arriving at the southern border.
President Joe Biden vowed to reverse a number of Trump Administration immigration policies and Republicans are pointing the finger at those policy changes. That includes Senator Bill Cassidy.
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Immigrant advocates say the numbers are spiking due to growing instability in Central America caused by a pair of major hurricane landfalls last year and pandemic economic woes.
Cassidy says Biden’s team has been hesitant to call the situation a crisis and is sending mixed messages.
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Cassidy says this is not the right way to handle immigration policy.
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Congressional Democrats have vowed to pursue comprehensive immigration reform to address the situation.