A new federal lawsuit alleges that Louisiana held more than 1,200 people past their legal release dates after Gary Westcott became secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in August 2024 through the end of 2025. The complaint, filed Aug. 28 in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, asks a judge to certify a class of affected people and order the state to release people within 48 hours of the end of their sentences.
The allegations have not been adjudicated, and no class has yet been certified. Plaintiffs Lisa Andres and Jaren Brignac name Westcott as the sole defendant in his official capacity. Their lawyers contend the department lacks firm deadlines for collecting sentencing records, calculating release dates and issuing release orders, leaving people in parish jails while paperwork moves among courts, sheriffs and state officials. WBRZ reported that Attorney General Liz Murrill rejected the lawsuit as a “money grab,” saying the state has built a new system, trained staff and that time calculations are complex.
Andres says she remained jailed for at least 101 days after she became eligible for immediate release on July 7, 2025. Brignac alleges nine days of overdetention after an Orleans Parish court ordered concurrent sentences with credit for time served on June 18, 2025. The Louisiana Illuminator reported that corrections staff completed Andres’ calculation the day her paperwork arrived and released her the following day. The department declined to comment to the outlet on pending litigation.
A documented problem predates the new case
The dispute follows years of federal scrutiny. In January 2023, the U.S. Justice Department said it had reasonable cause to believe Louisiana routinely violated the Fourteenth Amendment by keeping people in custody after their lawful release dates. Federal investigators found 26.8% of 4,135 people released from January through April 2022 had been overdetained; among that group, the median delay was 29 days and 24% were held at least 90 extra days. DOJ estimated the practice cost the state more than $2.5 million annually in parish-jail payments.
DOJ escalated the matter in December 2024 by suing Louisiana over the alleged pattern. That separate federal enforcement case remains important context for the new private action: both challenge the state’s process, but the Andres-Brignac complaint also seeks compensatory and punitive damages for named plaintiffs and any class members.
A February 2026 Louisiana Legislative Auditor report found for a fifth consecutive review that the department had not ensured adequate secondary checks of later changes to sentence calculations. In a sample of 30 changes, 11 lacked evidence of review by someone other than the preparer, although auditors found no errors in those 11 cases. The department said every initial calculation and pre-release calculation receives a second review, but staffing levels made comprehensive review of every interim credit change impractical; it revised its policy and cited new audit software and a document-upload portal used by 62 of 64 parishes.
The practical issue now before the federal court is whether those changes satisfy constitutional requirements and whether the plaintiffs can prove a continuing statewide practice. Until the court rules, the 1,200 figure and individual delays remain allegations drawn from the complaint and cited department data, not judicial findings.
