NEW ORLEANS — A local group working to bridge the gap of division through healthy dialogue hosted a panel discussion Tuesday.
Hosted by the group The Neutral Ground focused its 'Common Ground Speaker' series Tuesday on crime and justice and the state's incarceration rates.
Tuesday's conversation began with the facts, Louisiana has the second-highest imprisonment rate in the nation.
“We send people away for longer," said Aaron Clark Rizzio of the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights. "We have fewer avenues once they are there to be released.”
The panelists discussed what's causing the high incarceration rate.
“The high incarceration rate is the symptom of another problem," said Daniel Erspamer, CEO of the Pelican Institute. "It's not in and of itself necessarily bad but it does show that there are some things that aren’t working very well.”
Erspamer suggested there are several goals when it comes to incarceration. He says one that the government should strive for is rehabilitation.
“What are we doing during that incarceration to ensure they don’t go back," he said. "The data shows us the longer the sentence, typically the higher the recidivism rate.”
Rizzio says the state should spend its time looking at the conditions that create crime behavior.
"Just think about the vast majority of the people arrested," said Rizzio. "Incapacitating them for a short or long period of time is really in my opinion going to produce not a lot of good things.”
During the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers approved the Truth in Sentencing Bill. It requires inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentence before receiving any sentence reductions.
“We certainly will see people staying in jail longer,” said Melanie Tallia, CEO of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation.
Tallia suggests it will take an overhaul of the system to address the disparities.
“We can’t just fix the police department," she said. "We can’t just fix the public defender's office. You've got to approach the whole thing holistically.”
Rizzio says it's time to go back to the drawing board.
“We want people to be healthy happy productive citizens in our community," he said. "It's very hard to do that by removing them from the community and then putting them in hyper-violent institutions, I think we need to be focusing on alternatives to the current system.”
Founders of The Neutral Ground say these kinds of topics are why they started the organization because they are known to divide families, friends, and neighbors.
“We may disagree about a particular issue but how are any of these issues actually going to get sorted out if we can’t talk to each other,” asked John Landrum.
Landrum says programming from The Neutral Ground aims to close the divide and engage both sides.
“That’s where we have common ground,” he said. “The idea that we can come together and talk with respect and be in the presence of people who aren’t like us ideologically or otherwise and be comfortable with that.”
To learn more about The Neutral Ground visit their website by CLICKING HERE.
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