Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc Criticizes AG Jeff Landry

LeBlanc says before releasing a letter to the media, Landry had been dead silent to him on the issue.
“I have to believe 90 percent of it is political if he is thinking about running for governor that he wanted to start this whatever you want to call it in the press instead of trying to deal with it professionally in my opinion.”

In a recent letter, Landry claimed that Angola State Penitentiary’s Pharmacy was capable of compounding the chemicals necessary to produce the drugs needed for lethal injections. LeBlanc says they considered it and realized there was just no way to pull that off at a facility like Angola.

“Something we had looked into during the Jindal Administration, you have to have an IV lab, you’ve got to have the equipment, and you have to have a license. I mean there’s a lot you have to do in order to be able to do that and we don’t have that capability.”

Drug companies are now refusing to sell the drugs necessary to execute prisoners who have been given the death penalty. LeBlanc says they’ve tried reaching out to those chemical companies, but no one’s budging.

“We have made every effort since the governor has been here to get the executions back but obviously every direction we go we get turned down.”