Task force recommends options for CCC overcrowding
Makenzie Boucher
Following a year-long process members of the Caddo Parish Criminal Justice Task Force stood in front of members of the public and media to release a report done by the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) on overcrowding at the Caddo Correctional Center (CCC) Tuesday afternoon.
Currently that facility is housing 1,376 people, which is 300 over its designed capacity. Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator said, “I really feel vindicated in the fact that I’ve been saying for many years now, but especially several years, that we have too many people at CCC, and it’s driven by the fact that we have an overpopulation of people awaiting trial.”
Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart said that there is a process to prosecutions. “The sheriff does not have an understanding of the constitution of United States and the constitution of Louisiana or a license, we cannot do anything unethical,” said Stewart.
The data released Nov. 14 shows that the population began to increase in 2005 when south Louisiana detainees were displaced following Hurricane Katrina. Since that natural disaster, the population never fell at CCC and has remained at above capacity.
In CJI’s reporting the key component in increased population at CCC is the growth in the pretrial population. According to Stewart, Caddo Parish is processing and tracking as many cases as any jurisdiction in the state.
“We are making fewer arrests, and it is taking longer to get people to trial,” said Prator.
CJI highlighted seven key data findings pertaining to the overcrowding from 2012 to 2022. Here are the findings:
● 12% of the growth is driven by pretrial population
● 40% of admissions have decreased (longer detention times)
● the average length of the pretrial population has nearly doubled
● individuals posting bail has decreased by 15%
● individuals who do not post bail stay eight times longer than those who did in 2022
● the median total amount that bail was set at increased by 259%
● number of days from the opening to the disposition of a court case has increased by 144% from 2014 to 2022
Tim Magner, Task Force member and President of the Greater Shreveport
The data released Nov. 14 shows that the population began to increase in 2005 when south Louisiana detainees were displaced following Hurricane Katrina. Since that natural disaster, the population never fell at CCC and has remained at above capacity.
Chamber of Commerce said, “the population at CCC has been a serious challenge for some time, and it’s a problem that’s been running our community in a number of different ways, straining our law enforcement officers, putting added stress on CCC staff and inmates, inundating our court system and draining our parish funds.”
The CJI proposed 16 recommendations on how to decrease the population at CCC. Those recommendations included:
● ongoing monthly meetings with the task force
● strengthen data collection
● create, implement and validate a pretrial risk assessment tool
● streamline discovery
● re-establish monthly criminal court section meetings
●establish a domestic violence section of criminal court
● create an alternative to detention program for individuals struggling with substance use
● institute a pretrial release mechanism for certain low risk cases
● amnesty weeks establish a mental health problem solving court
● streamline booking and arrests across the parish
● establish a clear process for mental health crisis to be diverted into treatment
● allocate existing space for crisis stabilization
● strengthen existing re-entry preparation efforts
● improve employee recruitment for criminal justice partners
● establish pretrial services to support court appearances
Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said that out of all these recommendations he is excited about streamlining the discovery sharing process.
“Everything is based on having sufficient evidence. It’s not just what you know, it’s what you’re able to prove,” said Smith. “I hate to see a delay. When one of the judges say that the court case has to be delayed, because someone doesn’t have evidence that we may possess.”
Stewart said, “the quicker we can get the information and comply with the constitution requirements the quicker we can look at these cases and resolve them.”