Louisiana's top prison official resigns

The man who has led the state's prison system for the past 16 years is resigning. Jimmy Leblanc, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, says health reasons are forcing him to step down.

Former state Rep. and Chairman of the House Criminal Committee Joe Marino said Leblanc did an excellent job despite limited resources.

“We have too many prisoners. We don't have enough correctional officers. We have a whole system that we've been doing wrong for a long time,” Marino said.

Leblanc served under three governors: Republican Bobby Jindal, Democrat John Bel Edwards and current Republican Jeff Landry. Marino says his expertise will be hard to replace.

“He was someone who was genuinely interested in what he was doing, and I'm not sure how they're going to replace someone like Jimmy Leblanc with so much knowledge and experience,” he said.

East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore says Leblanc has worked hard to reduce the recidivism rate in the state.

“He always worked with us to promote reintegration and help those who were released from prison, even though he knew that about 40 percent would come back. What can we do to prevent that?” Moore said.

Landry says Leblanc's dedication was unmatched. Moore says the key to Leblanc's success was his level-headedness.

“He has the respect of prisoners, lawyers, governors and everyone else. It's a difficult job, but he made it easy,” Moore said.

Landry says appointing a new secretary for the position is a top priority.