BATON ROUGE - The United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Friday accusing Louisiana and its correctional department of keeping prisoners detained past their sentences.

The lawsuit is directed at both the state and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections for "[detaining] people for weeks and months past their release dates."

“Every person in the United States, whether incarcerated or otherwise, enjoys certain fundamental rights,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Foremost among them is the right to individual liberty. The Founders were keenly aware of the potential abuse of power when government can arbitrarily take away a person’s freedom without a lawful court order specifying the period of their confinement."

According to the Department of Justice, the lawsuit is the result of a multi-year investigation into allegations of systematic overdetention in the Louisiana Department of Correction's system. The Department of Justice first provided the state with written notice regarding the alleged conditions and the measures needed to address them in a report issued on Jan. 25, 2023.

The suit does not seek monetary damages, but it seeks injunctive relief to fix "deficient conditions" identified by the Department of Justice's investigation.

WBRZ reached out to the Department of Corrections for comment. We have not yet received a response.