Today, the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against the State of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LDOC). This lawsuit alleges that the state and LDOC maintain a recurring practice of detaining incarcerated individuals for weeks or even months after they have completed their prison sentences and are legally entitled to be released, in violation of the 14th Amendment.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said,

“Every person in the United States, whether incarcerated or otherwise, enjoys certain fundamental rights. Foremost among them is the right to individual liberty. The Founders were keenly aware of the potential abuse of power when government can arbitrarily take away a person’s freedom without a lawful court order specifying the period of their confinement. In this context, the right to individual liberty includes the right to be released from incarceration on time after the term set by the court has ended. To incarcerate people indefinitely, as LDOC does here, not only intrudes on individual liberty, but also erodes public confidence in the fair and just application of our laws.”

The lawsuit stems from a multi-year investigation by the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in the Middle, Eastern, and Western Districts into allegations of systemic over detention within the LDOC system of Louisiana.

Feds say the lawsuit aims for injunctive relief to correct the inadequate conditions found in the department’s investigation. It does not ask for monetary compensation. Although the State has taken minimal actions to tackle the systemic issues causing over detention, these measures fall short of remedying the longstanding deficiencies that the State is well aware of.