Louisiana Voice

The contrast between commencement speakers at Louisiana Tech University and Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) could not be starker.

Both BILLY McCONNELL (class of 1970) and Regina Davis (class of 1998) are graduates of Tech and both obtained their degrees in chemical engineering.

But MConnell, unlike Davis, did not pursue a career path in his major field of study, choosing instead, make his fortune in what he describes as “providing effective re-entry programs that change the lives of inmates,” according to a glowing press release by the university.

In reality, McConnell has presided over a growth industry that thrives on simply placing human beings in cages—kind of a low-tech enterprise when you think about it.

His company, LaSALLE CORRECTONS, has been the beneficiary of a financial windfall, thanks to the Trump administration’s immigration policies. In one year alone (2019), the Department of Homeland Security contracted eight new immigrant detention facilities in Louisiana. Six of those were former prisons or jails owned and operated by LaSalle—because the feds pay more per incarcerated body than the state.

But the company’s detention centers have been plagued with problems that ranged from beatings, deaths, withheld medical care at several of its locations to the performance of UNAUTHORIZED HYSTERECTOMIES on female detainees at its Georgia center. LaSalle also paid out a $7 million settlement at the BI-STATE JAIL in Texarkana, Texas, in 2024, the largest jail death payout in Texas history.

On the other hand, Regina Davis stuck to her major field and advanced up the ladder to her current position of Operations Manager at the Baton Rouge Refinery and Chemical complex. She addressed 600 graduates of BRCC on Tuesday. She delivered a stirring address that recapped her difficulties of being pregnant and alone, 300 miles from her New Orleans home as she doggedly pursued her degree. “In 1998, I walked across that stage as my one-year-old daughter cheered me on. Today, she’s 28 and is a nurse practitioner.

Davis stood as the example of grit and determination in the face of adversity who persevered and overcame tremendous odds. It was just the kind of uplifting address newly-degreed students needed to hear before venturing into the world of professional reality.

Tech graduates on Saturday will hear from an individual who has enriched himself on the misfortunes of others—mainly people who simply wanted a better way of live in America but instead, have been treated like pariahs.