Laitrim CEO Jay Lapeyre on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Laitrim CEO Jay Lapeyre on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Laitrim CEO Jay Lapeyre on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Photo by DANIEL ERATH — Court Watch NOLA held a reception at the home of Susan and Bill Hess. Court Watch, December 6, 2018 — Pres Kabacoff, Jason Williams
From left, Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, talks with House Republicans leader Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, and House Democrats leader Gene Reynolds, D-Minden, Thursday, May 25, 2017 in the House Chamber at the State Capitol. House Republicans threatened to spike six criminal justice reform bills on Thursday scheduled to receive votes, responding to a move by House Democrats the previous day which blocked the state’s construction budget.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry addresses members of the House and Senate on opening day of a legislative special session focusing on crime, Monday, February 19, 2024, in the House Chamber at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, La.
Laitrim CEO Jay Lapeyre on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Laitrim CEO Jay Lapeyre on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Seven years ago, some of Louisiana’s most respected business leaders created a monthslong education and advocacy campaign to reform the state’s criminal justice system.
Laitram President and CEO Jay Lapeyre, a libertarian, teamed with progressive New Orleans developer Pres Kabacoff to bring together tough-on-crime Republicans and social justice-oriented Democrats. During the 2017 legislative session, they pushed lawmakers to work across the aisle and pass a sweeping reform package, which aimed to reduce the state’s prison population and create savings that could be used for re-entry and job training programs.
It was a political feat credited largely to Lapeyre and other business leaders who got conservatives on board.
But earlier this year, Lapeyre watched from the sidelines as newly elected Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, with support from a Republican supermajority in the legislature, undid the reforms in a 10-day special session.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry addresses members of the House and Senate on opening day of a legislative special session focusing on crime, Monday, February 19, 2024, in the House Chamber at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, La.
Though Lapeyre didn’t agree with many of the bills and could point to data suggesting the 2017 reforms were working, he didn’t get involved. He stayed on the sidelines, he said in a recent interview, because stepping in wouldn’t have done any good.
“This train was going to run, and we were advised by our lobbyists and people at the Capitol that there wasn’t much we could do to change it,” Lapeyre said. “The best thing we could do was bring facts to the table and focus on minimizing the negative.”
Seven years after New Orleans-area business leaders helped pass criminal justice reform, a Republican governor that many of them actively supported made undoing those reforms his top priority. It left them with two choices: go up against Landry and risk the political fallout or remain silent and work behind the scenes on other, related priorities. Lapeyre chose the latter.
“I pick my battles and choose things where we can make a difference,” said Lapeyre. “There is a window when you can try. Other times, it is quixotic.”
Lapeyre has run his family’s Jefferson Parish-based business since the 1980s, growing the manufacturing company that began by building shrimp processing equipment into a global powerhouse with more than 3,800 employees, 366 U.S. patents to its name and annual revenues of more than $1 billion. He has also been a prominent and influential voice in the state’s business community, chairing the Business Council, the Tulane University board, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the New Orleans Crime Coalition.
Laitrim CEO Jay Lapeyre on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Lapeyre said data didn’t support the fundamental premise behind the special session — that criminal justice reform had led to a rise in crime during the pandemic. He also took issue with bills that would make it easier to lock nonviolent offenders up and harder to grant them early release for good-time behavior.
“You have to give people hope,” he said. “This is the wrong approach.”
Still, he said he decided not to fight the effort and instead focus on areas that align with the new administration’s priorities.
“I want to focus on the positive and some of the things the administration has said it wants to do — like re-entry and reducing some of the bureaucracy around occupational licensing so it will be easier for people to get a job,” Lapeyre said. “That’s how we can make a difference.”
Landry’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the criminal justice reforms. In remarks to the legislature at the opening of the special session, Landry said the state’s justice system had “lost balance,” and that swifter, stronger justice would “restore balance.”
While criminal justice reform was long a rallying cry of Democrats and social justice progressives, conservatives began taking up the cause more than a decade ago. Their motivation was largely fiscal: Reducing the number of people in prison for drug-related crimes and other nonviolent offenses would save money that could be used for rehabilitation.
Photo by DANIEL ERATH — Court Watch NOLA held a reception at the home of Susan and Bill Hess. Court Watch, December 6, 2018 — Pres Kabacoff, Jason Williams
The state’s conservative business community got behind the effort in the mid-2010s, after Kabacoff, a self-described progressive Democrat, got Lapeyre, an avowed libertarian, to join him. They created the Smart on Crime coalition and used their influential voices to get others behind the bills that eventually passed in 2017.
From left, Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, talks with House Republicans leader Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, and House Democrats leader Gene Reynolds, D-Minden, Thursday, May 25, 2017 in the House Chamber at the State Capitol. House Republicans threatened to spike six criminal justice reform bills on Thursday scheduled to receive votes, responding to a move by House Democrats the previous day which blocked the state’s construction budget.
“Jay’s efforts and credibility really drove this across the finish line,” said Daniel Erspamer, CEO of the Pelican Institute, a conservative think tank that worked with the coalition on policy. “When Jay starts making calls and saying ‘this is important we need to pay attention,’ people pay attention.”
Lapeyre still thinks the reforms are important, and he points to studies that show the measures were working. According to a February report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, since 2017, the rates of incarceration rate for nonviolent offenders and for recidivism have both come down and the number of violent offenders behind bars has gone up. The state, meanwhile, has saved nearly $153 million to date.
“They definitely were working,” Lapeyre said. “The data had been carefully researched. Every policy we had was implemented. It was starting to make a difference.”
So, what went wrong?
Lapeyre points to several factors, chief among them a spike in violent crime during the pandemic. Though the increase in crime mirrored trends nationwide — and has since reversed course — Landry campaigned on a tough-on-crime platform that resonated with weary citizens.
Though there was no evidence linking the 2017 reforms to the rise in crime, people were fed up and afraid.
“The reaction on the right was simple,” Lapeyre said. “Crime is up. We have to get tough.”
There were also legitimate problems with the 2017 reforms, including a lack of participation in job training and a failure to measure key outcomes, according to the legislative audit.
“The state didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” Lapeyre said. “I don’t know why.”
In a written response to the February audit, Department of Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc, who was appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards and is continuing in that role under Landry, agreed with recommendations calling for additional metrics and said his department was working to improve the programs.
Still, the shortcomings gave those who were never completely comfortable with the reforms a rationale to roll back the reforms, said Kabacoff. In hindsight, many of the business leaders who signed their names to the reforms were not truly committed to seeing them through, he said.
“The business support was really never that deep,” Kabacoff said. “Jay and I were the only businesspeople who rolled up our sleeves.”
Even if the business community had fought hard to keep criminal justice reform measures in place, Erspamer of the Pelican Institute doubts it would have done much good.
“This was largely driven by politics,” he said. “There is just a fundamentally different worldview on these issues today.”
Kabacoff is continuing to advocate for reforms through a nonprofit organization called Second Look Alliance, which is focused on conducting a multiyear public education campaign around the state’s incarceration rate.
Lapeyre said he’s more interested in working behind the scenes to push for measures that are more closely aligned with the goals of the current administration and legislature.
He supports several bills that would reduce the state’s stringent occupational licensing requirements, which can make it difficult for anyone — especially someone recently released from prison — to enter the workforce.
He also is encouraged by comments Landry has made about prioritizing education, reentry and workforce development programs for those behind bars.
“We have a window now to educate the legislature and the public and make sure that the governor’s programs give focus and not just lip service to programs that will teach people real skills and give them opportunities,” he said.
Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate.com.
He rammed a get-tough-on-crime package through the state Legislature.
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