Parole board orders mental‑health evaluations, delays several revocation hearings
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Summary
During its Feb. 3 docket the Committee on Parole ordered DOC mental‑health evaluations for multiple detainees after counsel and staff raised competency and medication‑compliance concerns, and continued hearings pending those evaluations.
The Committee on Parole on Feb. 3 directed the Department of Corrections to perform mental‑health and substance‑abuse evaluations in multiple cases after attorneys and facility staff raised concerns about competency and medication noncompliance.
At Caddo Correctional Center, attorney Aaron Brainard asked the board to pause revocation proceedings for Alden Duran and to order a sanity/competency evaluation, saying Duran suffers from acute mental‑health issues and may not be able to assist counsel. The chair agreed that DOC records showed mental‑health diagnoses and that a DOC evaluation was appropriate. Renata said her vote would be to order a "substance abuse and mental health evaluation and treatment with the DOC" in lieu of revocation and emphasized the evaluation should not extend the inmate's release beyond the date already recorded in DOC files.
In a separate matter the board found a female detainee (identified in the record as having compliance and medication issues) unable to participate constructively in the hearing; the panel continued the proceeding, ordered a DOC mental‑health evaluation, and directed that the inmate be transferred to the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in St. Gabriel for more robust mental‑health services and treatment. Counsel asked the board to provide copies of evaluation results; the board agreed it would share findings with counsel, subject to release forms.
The decisions reflect the committee’s approach to resolving procedural fairness and due‑process questions raised by defense counsel and by written records. In each case the board ordered DOC evaluations, continued the hearings as needed, and asked corrections staff to identify placement and treatment options for inmates who need medication management or more intensive mental‑health services.
The board instructed staff to provide evaluation results to counsel and to report back with placement plans. The committee emphasized these measures were intended to assess competence to proceed, medication needs and whether supervised community placement or treatment would be more appropriate than revocation.
