Jeff Landry said fighting crime will be a top priority for his incoming administration, but on the day he is to be sworn in as governor, he still hasn’t announced who will run the state’s largest public safety agency. 

The incoming governor has not picked a secretary to run the Department of Public Safety and Corrections yet. The person who gets the position will be in charge of Louisiana’s sprawling prison system and manage the state’s probation and parole operations. The position also has oversight of Louisiana State Police, although the tasks have largely been clerical in nature.

Louisiana sheriffs, who run the state’s local jails, have been pushing Landry to keep the current secretary, James “Jimmy” LeBlanc. He has had the position for the past 16 years.

Landry’s team did not respond to a question Friday about whether LeBlanc would be retained.

Having worked in the prison system for 50 years, LeBlanc expressed an interest in staying on at least until the new Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women facility opens in 2025, according to people who work closely with him. He declined to comment for this article.

The corrections department oversees over 71,000 people who have been convicted of crimes. This includes 28,300 state prisoners and 43,300 people on probation, parole or another type of criminal supervision in Louisiana.

The prison system alone has 2,100 employees,  and the agency has an annual budget of over $1 billion when juvenile justice services are included. By any measure, it is one of the largest and most complex departments in all of state government.

But unlike many state agencies, turnover in prison system leadership is rare. There have been just two corrections secretaries over the past 30 years and five governors’ terms. 

LeBlanc has served in the position for Govs. Bobby Jindal and John Bel Edwards. His predecessor, Richard Stalder, also had the job for 16 years under Govs. Edwin Edwards, Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco. 

The Louisiana Sheriffs Association – an important political constituency for any governor – has been pushing for LeBlanc because they find him easy to work with and straight-forward, according to law enforcement officials who didn’t want to comment on the record for fear of irritating Landry.

They described LeBlanc as dependable and direct about what he can and can’t do to accommodate the sheriffs’ needs. In Louisiana, the sheriffs worked closely with the corrections secretary because more than half of the state’s prisoners are housed in the local jails they run.

But LeBlanc was also a champion for John Bel Edwards’ criminal justice overhaul that shortened prison sentences, which Landry opposed and has vowed to undo. Specifically, LeBlanc advocated for the reconsideration of life-without-parole sentences and other very long prison terms. 

His stance on this issue was driven, in part, over the amount of money the prison system devotes to keeping very old and sick inmates behind bars.

 

Louisiana spends approximately $100 million on medical care for prisoners each year, a large chunk of which goes to taking care of inmates who are senior citizens after decades of incarceration or weakened by chronic illnesses. LeBlanc has suggested taxpayers’ money might be better spent on other services. 

Landry hasn’t revealed the specifics of his criminal justice agenda but has generally expressed that Louisiana needs to be even tougher on people committing violent crimes, seemingly in contrast to suggestions LeBlanc has put forward in recent years. 

But if Landry has another person in mind to run the prison system, it’s hard to know who he would pick.

Before Landry announced his new state police superintendent, his transition team’s public safety committee talked to several state police leaders about who might be a good fit for the position and met with potential candidates, according to people familiar with the committee’s work.

The same committee interviewed and discussed no other candidates, besides LeBlanc, to run the prison system.

LeBlanc isn’t the only person waiting for Landry’s phone call either. Two other gubernatorial cabinet positions – Louisiana Economic Development secretary and the head of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – have not been filled yet.

The incoming governor also hasn’t picked a person to lead the Office of Juvenile Justice, which isn’t a cabinet position but still considered a crucial public safety job. The agency oversees juvenile secure care facilities, group homes and criminal supervision – the equivalent of prisons, probation and parole for people who are underage and in the juvenile justice system. 

Like LeBlanc, Curtis Nelson, the current assistant secretary over juvenile justice, has expressed an interest in keeping his job.