Louisiana also named “Solitary Confinement Capital of the World”
Photo source: New York Magazine
Baton Rouge, LA – New state rankings, published by USA Today found that Louisiana, under the failed leadership of Governor John Bel Edwards, is the most violent state in America. The team at USA Today used the four metrics below to calculate their state rankings:
Violent crime rate: 557.0 per 100,000 residents (4th highest)
Murder rate: 12.4 per 100,000 residents (the highest)
Incarceration rate: 719 per 100,000 residents (the highest)
2018 unemployment: 4.9% (3rd highest)
Under Governor Edwards, Louisiana has the highest murder rate in the United States. There were 12.4 murders in the state for every 100,000 residents in 2017 –making Louisiana the only state where murders were more than twice as common as they were nationwide. For reference, the national murder rate was 5.3 incidents per 100,000 people.
Murders in Louisiana are disproportionately concentrated in urban areas, with the New Orleans Metro Area topping the list of U.S. cities with the most gun violence.
Don’t worry, Governor Edwards says we are on the right path!
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana and Loyola’s Jesuit Social Research Institute joined with Solitary Watch to publish “Louisiana on Lockdown”, A Report on the Use of Solitary Confinement in Louisiana State Prisons, With Testimony from the People Who Live It. After researching the operation of Louisiana prisons under Governor Edwards, this report found “it is clear that Louisiana holds the title of solitary confinement capital of the WORLD.”
“When it conducted a full count in the fall of 2017, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LADOC) reported that 19 percent of the men in its state prisons—2,709 in all—had been in solitary confinement for more than two weeks. Many had been there for years or even decades. These rates of solitary confinement use were more than double the next highest state’s, and approximately four times the national average.”
Governor Edwards has a unique family interest in the Louisiana Prison system. He is quick to campaign on the fact that his family of sheriffs has operated the Tangipahoa Parish Prison across four generations or more. Currently, his brother Sheriff Daniel Edwards is overwhelmed by federal investigations into the operations and issues at the Tangipahoa Parish Prison.
Now we all just sit back and wait for the Governor to blame Bobby Jindal.
