Audit: Corrections Dept. Fails To Track Inmate Release Dates

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana legislative audit says the Department of Public Safety and Corrections is failing to properly track inmate release dates, leading to many errors including miscalculating parole eligibility.

The Advocate reports the audit, released last week, says the department has an inadequate review process for sentencing calculations.

Auditors say 40 sentence computations were tested, and five had inaccurate information, leading to incorrect release dates, missed rehabilitation program credits or incorrect parole eligibility classifications. Twenty-one of those tested lacked a reviewer signature.

Department Secretary James LeBlanc says there isn't enough supervisory staff to sign off on the 60,000 processed computations. He says the department is working on a new procedure to have experienced staff conduct secondary reviews.

The newspaper says the current audit echoes a 2017 report outlining the same issues.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com