Louisiana state officials have decided to close another prison. The prison closure is the third in a series of closures aimed at decreasing budgetary strains within the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. In the first year alone, closure of those three prisons is estimated to save Louisiana taxpayers almost $9 million.
Importantly, these closures are easily effectuated without any resulting harm to public safety.
As of December of 2011 (from which we have the most recent available data), there were over 8,000 vacant prison beds across Louisiana – a fact that supports the closing of not only these three facilities, but additional facilities as well, to further ease the burden on Louisiana’s taxpayers.