WASHINGTON D.C. (WVUE) -
Gov. John Bel Edwards and officials from Louisiana will travel to Washington, D.C. Tuesday to participate in a criminal justice reform event organized by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
The governor will also attend a national Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) board meeting,according to a news release issued by his office.
Joining him will be Natalie LaBorde, deputy assistant secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Louisiana State Representatitve Tanner Magee, and Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre.
Louisiana has the highest imprisonment rate in the nation, but that is expected to change as a result of comprehensive reform legislation signed into law this summer. Through a bipartisan effort, state leaders adopted a package of innovative, evidence-based approaches to reducing recidivism and incarceration, such as steering less serious offenders away from prison, strengthening alternatives to prison and jail, and removing barriers to success during re-entry into society, according to the release.
JAG is a nationwide non-profit program that has helped more than one million young people facing difficult challenges earn their high school diploma or equivalency degree, successfully receive post-secondary education, and find meaningful employment.
So far, the governor has expanded the JAG program in Louisiana to 123 schools.