Louisiana has paroled fewer prisoners than at any point in the past 20 years under Gov. Jeff Landry, following legislative changes that tightened eligibility and eliminated parole for most newly convicted inmates, according to an analysis of state data by Verite News and ProPublica.

The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole released 185 prisoners during Landry’s tenure, compared with 858 during the two years before he took office in January 2024, a decline of about 78%. Over the same period, the number of parole hearings dropped from 1,785 to 714.

In 2024, lawmakers passed a law banning parole for individuals convicted after Aug. 1. For those sentenced before the cutoff, eligibility rules were revised to require three years without disciplinary violations instead of one and a low-risk rating from a computerized assessment tool. Louisiana is the only state that uses such risk scores to automatically disqualify people from parole consideration, according to previous investigations by ProPublica and Verite News.

State officials said the reforms reflect voter concerns about public safety. In a February 2024 address opening a special legislative session on crime, Landry said previous post-conviction policies returned “un-reformed, un-repentant and violent criminals” to communities and contributed to rising crime.

The law also requires a unanimous vote of parole board members to approve release in many cases. Five of the seven current board members were appointed by Landry. Data show that two of his appointees have voted to grant parole in about 21% of cases, compared with higher rates among members appointed under former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The decline in parole approvals has left hundreds of prisoners incarcerated who would likely have been released under previous administrations, according to defense attorneys and prison advocates. They said parole had previously served as an incentive for rehabilitation and a mechanism for supervised reentry.

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections data show that prisoners released at the end of their sentence had a five-year recidivism rate of 40.3%, compared with 22.2% for those released on parole, based on the agency’s 2023 annual report.

Francis M. Abbott, executive director of the parole board, said the reduction in hearings and approvals reflects multiple factors, including earlier reforms that expanded eligibility and temporarily increased releases. He said the 2024 changes were enacted by lawmakers and “reflect the will of the citizens of Louisiana.”

Corrections policy experts estimate the state’s prison population could rise sharply under the new rules. James Austin, a national corrections analyst, projected the population could grow from about 28,000 inmates to nearly 56,000 within six years. Housing a state prisoner costs roughly $37,000 per year, compared with about $2,200 annually for parole supervision, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

Civil rights attorneys and former parole board members said the changes mark a shift away from rehabilitation and toward longer incarceration. Pearl Wise, who served on the board until 2023, said tougher parole standards would likely increase prison overcrowding without significantly reducing crime.