OAN’s Abril Elfi
9:13 AM – Saturday, December 23, 2023
The governor of Louisiana has pardoned 56 inmates, which includes 40 of them who have been convicted of murder.
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Governor John Bel Edwards (D-La.) has pardoned dozens of prisoners, including a man who had been on death row and another who fatally stabbed a woman 39 times.
Edwards stated that he has signed pardons for 56 inmates to be released in five different batches in an effort to help Louisiana lose its reputation as the “World’s Prison Capital.”
The outgoing governor, whose term ends on January 8th, 2024, is trying to make good on his campaign vow to cut down on the number of people incarcerated in the state.
“For as long as I can remember, Louisiana reflexively responded to an increase in crime by putting more people in prison and keeping them there longer,” Edwards told Louisiana news outlet NOLA.com this week.
“We’ve never been made safer as a result of that,” Edwards said. “There is no data to suggest that an increase in crime here was because of the reforms.”
According to reports, others who have been released include inmates convicted of robbery, arson, aggravated kidnapping, theft and drug dealing.
Edwards pardoned five prisoners found guilty of first-degree murder and eleven guilty of second-degree murder in December alone.
The 57-year-old has been the governor since 2016, winning re-election in 2019, making him the first Democrat to win re-election in the state of Louisiana since 1975.
Republican Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has been elected as Edward’s replacement.
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