(The Center Square) – Parish leaders have yet to act on Department of Justice recommendations to reduce Caddo Correctional Center overcrowding, and based on the most recent population data, the problem has since worsened.
A major contributor to overcrowding, the report revealed, is the length of time pretrial inmates wait. The detention period for those awaiting trial or court appearance has doubled in the past decade, the report states.
In response to overcrowding, Caddo Parish introduced an electronic monitoring program at Thursday’s commission meeting that will not necessarily ease the problem.
“Do you think it will reduce the numbers in the jail?” asked parish Commissioner John-Paul Young.
“It possibly could, but with our vetting process, it’s going to be strenuous,” said Rick Farris, a Sheriff’s Office chief deputy. “They may be in jail for a nonviolent crime right now, but if they have a previous crime of violence, then they’re automatically disqualified.”
The commission unanimously passed a resolution in favor of the program that allows select nonviolent misdemeanor inmates to serve home incarceration instead of remaining in custody. It applies to inmates serving short-term sentences.
But none of the correctional center’s 22 parish inmates would qualify for the program, Farris said. The correctional center is a detention facility in Shreveport that handles pretrial detainees and convicted inmates.
In summer 2024, Sheriff Henry Whitehorn told local media viable solutions to address overcrowding were about a year away. His office operates the correctional center.
Three years ago, the facility’s population was 31% over its capacity of 1,070 inmates.
Today, with nearly 1,600 inmates, it’s approaching 50% beyond capacity, according to parish data released this month.
As overcrowding reached a crisis point, the previous sheriff, who left office in 2023, collaborated with a crime task force made up of federal and local law enforcement officials and local criminal justice agencies, called the Caddo Parish Criminal Justice Task Force. It reviewed a decade of parish data to form policy solutions.
The task force released a Justice Department report in November 2023 to the media and public as an exhibit of solutions to overcrowding.
Two key points emerged – there is no single change that can address the problem, and stakeholders need to continue working collaboratively.
It’s unclear if any Justice Department recommendation was adopted or is being considered by the sheriff’s office, but it’s clear the task force is no longer working.
While active, it included Caddo Parish and Shreveport government leadership, law enforcement, courts, corrections, healthcare providers and nonprofits.
The report outlined 16 recommendations that would, among other things, expand or speed up programs for pretrial inmates and processing at the court and district attorney levels. Surging population is overwhelmingly driven by pretrial population – those arrested and booked but not yet convicted – which rose 42% between 2012 and 2022, accounting for 72% of the jail population.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting the sheriff’s office to supply additional details.
Local officials confirmed that the task force no longer meets.
Whitehorn “decided to go in another direction,” the district attorney’s office said.
At the midpoint of Whitehorn’s term, electronic monitoring is the first major initiative identified in The Center Square’s investigation. Solving the overcrowding crisis was among the most important issues for voters.
Results of nationwide Justice Department studies about ankle monitors are mixed – they work when properly implemented and fail when used as a standalone solution. Electronic monitoring was not one of the report’s 16 recommendations.
“Right now, it’s to try to provide a short-term fix,” said Erica Bryant, Caddo Parish administrator. “I know the current inmates may not have met the vetting process, but we believe that if we can allow some of those folks that have already been sentenced to a short-term stay, to have home incarceration, then we would see a cost savings.”
Because cases are taking longer to move through the district attorney’s office and court system, streamlining the discovery process was among the recommendations.
The median time between case opening and disposition increased 144% between 2012 and 2022. The average number of days between the first court date and disposition grew from 84.5 days to 388 days, the report revealed.
Shreveport police did adopt in 2025 a cloud-based system that provides the district attorney’s office with instant access to evidence. Axon Evidence is a cloud-based digital evidence management system that allows law enforcement to store and share body camera footage, audio and documents.
Police spokesman Chris Bordelon said he is not aware of anyone meeting with the sheriff’s department to address jail overcrowding.
According to the report, the Bureau of Justice Assistance provided funding. Similar initiatives helped numerous states reduce their prison populations and adopt more efficient systems. They identify “points of congestion within the system” and suggest short- and long-term solutions.
