A free public forum to discuss reforming the criminal justice system will be held Nov. 13 at South Louisiana Community College.

According to KATC, the ACLU of Louisiana and the Pelican Institute for Public Policy will host the event, during which experts will offer perspectives on how to reduce the state's prison population and its cost to taxpayers while improving public safety.

Lafayette suffers from prison overcrowding, with the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center housing more than 900 inmates in a facility built for 338.

As reported by The Daily Advertiser in October, Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the country, with 868 of every 100,000 of its citizens in prison. The national average is 540 per 100,000.

Safe and Fair Louisiana: A Forum on Criminal Justice Reform will be held at 6 p.m. in the Devalcourt Building, 320 Devalcourt St., room D157.

Panelists include ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director, Marjorie Esman, and Kevin Kane, President of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. They will be joined by State Sen. Fred Mills (R-Parks), a member of the state's Judiciary C Committee; Representative Terry Landry (D-Lafayette), who serves on the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee; and Judge Fredericka "Ricky" Wicker, of the Louisiana Sentencing Commission.

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