Justice Department Awards Nearly $4.2 Million in Grants to State of Louisiana

Acting U.S. Attorney Ellison C. Travis announced that the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and Bureau of Statistics have awarded $4,192,789 collectively to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance.

The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement is a foundation located in Baton Rouge dedicated to improving the operations of the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems and to promoting public safety by providing progressive leadership and coordination within the criminal justice community.

The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance is a Program of the Louisiana Board of Regents, administering the state's scholarship and grant programs, and the state's Internal Revenue Code Section 529 college savings program.

Grantees will use funds to:

• support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own state and local needs and conditions;

• assist state and local governments in developing and implementing substance abuse treatment programs in state and local correctional and detention facilities and to create and maintain community-based residential, jail-based, and aftercare services for offenders;

• continue working on coming into compliance with PREA Standards in order to better protect individuals from sexual abuse and sexual harassment in confinement facilities; and

• provide student loan repayment assistance for local, state, and federal public defenders and local and state prosecutors who commit to extended service in those roles and who have the least ability to repay their loans.