Together Louisiana prepares for state legislative session

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Mass incarceration, was one of the many issues talked about at the Together Louisiana Statewide Issues Conference, at Shiloh Baptist Church. According to several slides at the one of the many workshops, Louisiana has the harshest sentencing laws in America.  Sherral Kahey spent time in a Louisiana prison for 27 years. She said the stigma of the "harshest" was the same way, back when she was locked up.

"It's sick, and it needs to be healed. It has not changed in 27 year, so there needs to be less talk and more action," said Kahey.

Bobby Thompson of Together Baton Rouge said he always wondered why certain neighborhoods were dwindling in the capital city, until he saw the statistics of people being incarcerated.

"We are taking these people out of the community, giving them no kind of future or any kind of training or rehabilitation, and injecting them back in to the community. It can't help but hurt that community," said Thompson.

The group plans to lobby lawmakers for changes in sentencing guidelines, when the 2014 state legislative session starts March 10^th.