Louisiana’s prison system routinely holds people weeks and months after they have completed their sentences, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday. The suit against the state of Louisiana follows a multiyear investigation into what federal officials say is a pattern of “systemic overdetention” that violates inmates’ rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

Louisiana's prisons often hold inmates long after they were supposed to be released following the completion of their sentences, the DOJ says.

Louisiana’s prison system routinely holds people weeks and months after they have completed their sentences. That is according to a lawsuit filed Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice.