BATON ROUGE — State auditors have again found that Louisiana prison officials do not have an adequate way to review calculations made when determining when inmates should be released.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor's office noted Monday that shortcomings have been mentioned in five consecutive reports, but according to a lawsuit filed in 2021 the Department of Public Safety and Corrections has known since at least 2012 that inmates are held beyond their release dates.

In 2021, inmate Joel Giroir sued the prison system, saying it had held him more than two months beyond his release date. At the time, the prison system said the claims were without merit but noted calculations were a "very complex process" involving several agencies. It also said it was working to improve accuracy.

Giroir was released from prison three days after filing his lawsuit, according to his lawyer.

Nearly five years after initially filing his lawsuit in federal court, Giroir was recently given permission to stand in for inmates in similar situations.

Citing a deposition, Giroir said in his lawsuit that the prison has "admitted that the DOC is 'legally bound' to release people on time, and ... has admitted that the DOC’s chronic, unlawful overdetention is a 'big problem.'"

His lawyers say that, on a grant application, the prison system disclosed that holding inmates too long was costing the state $2.8 million a year in additional housing costs.

The recent audit also dinged the agency for a second year over inadequate controls regarding fuel card usage at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, Elayn Hunt Correctional Center and the Dixon Correctional Institute.