02/04/2026
For women in the SCLPMI community, these policy changes hit especially hard:
🧠Increased Trauma & Mental Health Strain
• Women with severe, chronic, and persistent mental health conditions are more likely to experience worsening symptoms when isolated and removed from community support.
• Access to consistent mental health care is already limited—longer incarceration only deepens the gap.
👩‍👧 Family & Community Disruption
• Women are often primary caregivers. Without parole options, they may spend years separated from children, partners, and support networks.
• This separation can have ripple effects on child well-being, stability, and long-term family healing.
📉 Cost vs. Care
• Investing in parole supervision and supportive reentry could save millions while helping women stabilize and reintegrate into their communities.
• Instead, the state may spend exponentially more to incarcerate more people longer.
We must ask: Are we prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation and human dignity? And what does that mean for the most vulnerable among us—especially women with SCLPMI?
Two years ago, the governor eliminated parole for all prisoners arrested after Aug. 1, 2024 and tightened eligibility rules for those already in prison.
One expert estimates that as a result, Louisiana’s prison population will nearly double in six years. It costs $37K a year to house an inmate compared with $2.2K a year for parole supervision.
Read more (with Verite News): https://propub.li/4rp6gkU
