Multiple new Louisiana laws went into effect Aug. 1 including the "truth in sentencing" bill. The law requires an inmate to serve 85 percent of their original sentence before any type of reduction.

NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY) -- Multiple new Louisiana laws went into effect Aug. 1, including the "truth in sentencing" bill. The law requires an inmate to serve 85 percent of their original sentence before any type of reduction.

Iberia Parish District Attorney Bo Duhe believes this will deter crime in the future.

"This truth in sentencing law is a very good law for public safety," Duhe said.

The new law amended previous changes made in 2017 which attempted to reduce the population of incarcerated individuals in the state.

Duhe believes the truth in sentencing bill allows for more transparency with sentencing and will not change for different crimes.

"They can get up to 365 days off in C.T.O.P. credits, but we don't get involved in that," Duhe said. "That's Department of Corrections as far as we're concerned. The 10-year sentence carries with it eight-and-a-half life. Is it going to result in people being in jail, more people be in jail more often and drive up that those figures of people who are incarcerated? Yes. But, you know, sometimes that needs to be done."

Duhe credits Gov. Jeff Landry and legislators for using the law as a tool to allow the process of incarceration be true to its original sentence.

"There's a consequence for that kind of behavior," Duhe said. "If you're going to act in that way and if you're going to cause that kind of pain and destruction, you're going to go to prison and you're going to go for a long time."

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