A jail in Louisiana is closing after experiencing an inmate shortage. The Vernon Correctional Facility is shutting its doors at the end of the month because the medium security jail only has 201 prisoners and they’re required to have 350, Vernon Parish Sheriff John S. “Sam” Craft explained in a letter posted on Facebook.
Louisiana had the highest incarceration rate in the U.S. and the world, which led to criminal justice reforms by Governor John Bel Edwards in 2017. “Louisiana’s label as having the highest incarceration rate in the nation may be part of our past, but it will not be a part of our future,” Edwards said then.
Source: WGNO