Louisiana Voice

The Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association (LSA) is apparently on-board with House Bill 609 but not without some good old-fashioned horse trading, aka deal-making.

HB 609, by State Rep. Edmond Jordan (D-Baton Rouge), would tear down the wall of so-called qualified immunity that for years has protected law enforcement officers from lawsuits when they commit misconduct, violate an individual’s rights or break the law.

Qualified immunity exists under both federal and state statutes and extends immunity from lawsuits to prosecutors as well and courts have generally UPHELD THE PRINCIPLE even though the concept is mentioned nowhere in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The unofficial doctrine has fueled the frustration of human rights activists.

Jordan’s bill would change that and while the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have sparked the national debate over qualified immunity, it is a LOUISIANA CASE that lies at the heart of his bill.

The crux of HB 609 says, “No element of qualified immunity shall be available to peace officers as a defense to liability for claims brought under the laws of Louisiana for wrongful death, physical injury or personal injury inflicted by peace officers through any use of physical force in a manner determined by the court to be unreasonable.”

The proposed law would apply to commissioned police officers, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, marshals, deputy marshals, correction officers, constables, wildlife enforcement agents, state park wardens, probation and parole officers, military police officers, security personnel employed by the Louisiana Supreme Court or any Louisiana court of appeal, officers, employees, contract workers or volunteers with any prison, jail, work release facility, or correctional institution.

So, what are the conditions laid out by LSA in exchange for its support of the bill?

If you guessed money, you’d be correct.

When all these sheriffs in Louisiana cast longing eyes at the per diem paid to house prisoners, the race was on to build more and bigger local prisons to accommodate state inmates. The fact that the new facilities would allow the sheriffs to offer jobs in their respective parishes was a convenient plus, politically speaking.

But when the feds upped the ante by paying a lot more to house illegal immigrants, those same civic-minded sheriffs cast aside state prisoners in favor of the federal detainees, who brought in bigger bucks.

Many of the sheriffs even farmed out the operations of their local jails to private companies while cutting themselves in for a share of the easy money. The former sheriff of St. Tammany Parish got himself into a peck of trouble for setting up a deputy’s family to run the parish prison and in St. Bernard Parish, the sheriff simply over-built his prison, costing the parish a lot of money for building housing far fewer than its capacity. The sheriff of East Carroll Parish actually went to jail over his scheme to build and run four private prisons.

 Some even established their own work-release programs whereby prisoners were leased to local concerns which paid the inmates minimum wage. Of course, the sheriffs and private companies RAKED OFF A SHARE of the prisoners’ meager earnings as recompense for running the programs – never mind the state was already paying them to house the prisoners.

And just to ensure they could get most of what the prisoners were able to keep for themselves, commissaries were established that charged OUTRAGEOUS PRICES for Honey Buns and soft drinks.

Not wanting to leave any money on the table, phone systems were set up whereby extortion-level prices were charged for collect phone calls home to loved ones.

If you ordered my book Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption, you might find yourself wondering why the LSA doesn’t do more to clean up its image instead of spending time trying to enrich its members. (You can order the book for $30 by clicking on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post or by sending a check to LouisianaVoice, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727.)

So, in exchange for its “support” of Jordan’s bill, the LSA wants to increase the per diem for housing state prisoners from $24 to $30 and is demanding to be allowed to charge even more for snacks and drinks from local commissaries.

And an increase in the already high prices of collect phone calls is reportedly also among the LSA’s wish list for its support of what should be a basic right in the first place.

And all this time, we thought scalping was illegal.