This week Louisiana passed a new bill that will allow some of the state’s elderly prisoners to be eligible for parole.

The ACLU is overjoyed.

So is conservative Angola Prison Warden Burl Cain as he explains in the video above.

This is from the ACLU statement:

Louisiana should not be using taxpayer dollars to lock up elderly individuals when they pose no danger to our communities,” said Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana. “The state’s legislature deserves credit for tackling the state’s problem of overincarceration by passing bills like this one.”

Louisiana has the largest incarcerated population of any state in the nation, and half of those behind bars in Louisiana are there for non-violent offenses. The state has 1,224 people over the age of 60 locked up – three percent of the state’s total prison population.

So, if Louisiana can make such a move, why can’t California? Our elderly prisoners make up 8 or 9 percent of the prison population.

Listen to the video. Burl Cain says it all about why we should save money by paroling the elderly and incapacitated inmates who can no longer hurt anybody.

[NOTE: light blogging today.]