Constitutional Attorneys Urge Louisiana Governor to Reject Bill That Would Make Poverty a Pathway Into Jail, Debt and Court Control
BATON ROUGE, La. — Warning that more Americans are living one crisis away from homelessness in an economy marked by rising housing costs, medical debt, job instability and shrinking safety nets, The Rutherford Institute has urged Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry to reject HB 211, the “Streets to Success Act,” as part of a growing trend toward criminalizing poverty.
In a letter to Governor Landry, The Rutherford Institute cautions that HB 211 would make homelessness a gateway into prosecution, probation, court-ordered treatment, debt, and jail—and risks punishing people for the unavoidable realities of poverty and homelessness while making it harder for them to secure the housing, employment, medical stability and community support needed to leave homelessness behind.
“Louisiana should not make it a crime to be too poor to afford shelter,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “In an economy where more working families, seniors, veterans and young people are being priced out of stability, homelessness is no longer someone else’s problem. It is a warning sign. Public safety is not achieved by cycling vulnerable people through arrests, fines, probation, treatment mandates, and jail. It is achieved by addressing the root causes of homelessness while protecting the constitutional rights and dignity of all people.”
HB 211 creates a new crime of “unauthorized camping on public property,” defined as the intentional use of a tent, shelter or bedding arranged to permit overnight use on public property that is not a designated campground. A violation is punishable by a fine of up to $500, imprisonment for up to six months, or both. The bill also allows local district courts to establish a Homelessness Court program that offers services such as housing assistance, job training, disability-compensation counseling, mental-health treatment, substance-use treatment and other rehabilitative supports. However, as The Rutherford Institute warns, those services are embedded in the criminal justice system and made available only after a person is arrested or issued a summons for a misdemeanor or felony and determined to be experiencing homelessness. To enter the program, a defendant must be accepted by the court, plead guilty to the charge, waive trial rights, sign a probation agreement and submit to court-ordered conditions. This could put significant pressure on poor defendants to plead guilty and waive a trial, even if they are innocent. Participation lasts at least twelve months. During that time, the defendant may be confined in a treatment facility or supervised in the community, may be required to pay for testing, treatment and supervision unless deemed unable to do so, and may face revocation and incarceration if the program is not completed successfully. If a defendant lacks the resources to pay program costs, the court may order supervised work for the benefit of the community in lieu of payment.
The Rutherford Institute warns that HB 211 turns arrest into the gateway to help, converting poverty into court debt, compelled labor, criminal records and further punishment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson gave governments more leeway under the Eighth Amendment to enforce certain anti-camping laws, the Institute emphasized that Grants Pass does not require states to criminalize homelessness or immunize such laws from other constitutional challenges. In urging Governor Landry to reject HB 211, The Rutherford Institute called on Louisiana to prioritize voluntary services before arrest, emergency shelter and low-barrier housing, safe and sanitary temporary alternatives where shelter is unavailable, storage for personal property, mobile outreach, mental-health and substance-use care outside the criminal process, and partnerships with faith-based and nonprofit organizations.
Constitutional and Policy Concerns Regarding HB 211, the “Streets to Success Act”
Article posted with permission from John Whitehead