SWFL.io - Local NewsMAYA BELL/Verite News - Verite News
•6/22/2026
Charles Amos, 53, said when he was convicted of second-degree murder and given a life sentence in 1995, he didn’t think he would amount to much, but he wanted to change.
He began educating himself by reading. Then, in 1999, heard about the Louisiana New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. For four years, Amos read the Bible and wrote dissertations, all while learning the law for his own case.
In 2007, Amos graduated from the program with a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministry. Amos is one of many formerly incarcerated people who earned a degree while in prison.
“My main goal was to remake who I was. I felt like I wasn’t the best person prior to my conviction. So my focal point was changing myself,” Amos said.
In 2018, Amos went to the state Board of Pardons and received a favorable recommendation to get his sentence commuted to 99 years with parole eligibility. He was later released after striking a deal with the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office to reduce his conviction to manslaughter.
For Amos, getting an education while in prison was about changing himself. He never received any formal benefits such as a reduced sentence. But in recent years, the state has begun offering prisoners small sentence reductions as an incentive for earning degrees. That began in 2021, when the legislature passed a bill allowing for 90 days of “good time” credit for earning a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
And now, under a bipartisan bill signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry in April, people who are incarcerated can earn 90 days of “good time” credit for earning an associate’s degree from an approved university. Like the 2021 law, it is not available to all prisoners. Those convicted of sex crimes or violent crimes will not be eligible. The law takes effect on Aug. 1.
Good time is approved by the head of the correctional facility where a prisoner is held, whether it’s a state prison or a local jail. The days off can be revoked for bad behavior.
State Rep. Mandie Landry (no relation), who introduced the bill, said it’s important to give prisoners as many opportunities as possible for sentence reduction.
“We want people working and in the community and raising their families and not incarcerated. It’s expensive. We want people out in the community, not warehoused,” Landry said.
Good time credits can also be earned through sustained good behavior and in approved work, educational, vocational, or rehabilitation programs, a spokesperson from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections said.
Andrew Hundley, the executive director of the Louisiana Parole Project, said good time credits help encourage people to do good work by incentivizing it.
“So it’s not a significant number, it doesn’t mean people are going to come home years earlier, but it’s an incentive to come home several days earlier,” Hundley said.
Louisiana’s prison population has been a constant issue for the state. It has consistently ranked as the first or second most incarcerated state in the country.
Deputy Director of Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) Bruce Reilly, himself a former prisoner, said coming out of prison and finding a job can be difficult for incarcerated people.
“You’re already dealing with a whole lot of discriminatory side-eyes and things like that. Your resume is going to be potentially terrible. There might be some massive gap or let’s just say you were a tutor on the inside or a law clerk on the inside or a mechanic on the inside. With other people, you’re literally asking someone to roll the dice on them,” Reilly said.
LeAnn Jochum was sent to the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women for attempted first degree murder. While in prison, she got an associate’s degree in general communication and a bachelor’s in business management.
She said the bill is a good way to reward the work that goes into studying while in prison.
“I know not just me, but plenty of women who have got their associate’s degree, and you put a lot of work into that with yourself, with your mind, with your mental, just all kinds of stuff,” Jochum said. “So I do believe that would be a positive thing for people to have while they are incarcerated, and something to look forward to once they get that degree.”
Landry said she hopes to expand the program in the future by allowing prisoners to earn more days off of their sentences.
Reilly said while the new program is helpful, it’s a small solution to the larger problem.
“If you’ve got a thousand cuts, you’re going to need a thousand band-aids,” he said.
“But to be realistic, this is only going to impact so many people who get associate’s degrees in the system. I don’t think that the number of people getting associate’s degrees is that high. If you’re doing 10, 20, or 99 years, like is 90 days really a dent?”
Amos now works at VOTE as a community organizer. He said that while he doesn’t use his degree right now, it’s helped him with critical thinking and how he views himself.
Jochum uses her degrees in her work as a reentry specialist, who helps formerly incarcerated people reenter the workforce.
Even without the credits, both said they were glad they got degrees.
“But education was the pivotal turning point for me. I can’t put any more emphasis on that than what I’m doing,” Amos said. “Education is the key to turning people’s lives around. And it has to be said. It’s vital to have a person who’s educated.”
This story was originally published by Verite News and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.