Last week, Governor Bobby Jindal said that he would consider selling the Allen Correctional Center and the Winn Correctional Center in order to help close the $1.6 billion budget shortfall that is facing Louisiana.  He reiterated the idea in a speech at a Lake Charles bookstore today.  The two prisons, if they are sold, may bring the state about $64 million.  Jindal proposed the prison sales as part of a larger plan to reduce the shortfall by exploring the sale of numerous state assets.

Republican State Treasurer John Kennedy, a budget hawk who speaks frequently about reducing the size of government, is skeptical of the possible sales: “A junkie can go sell his television and sell the radio and pay for a fix…[b]ut sooner or later…he’s got to face his addiction. I would prefer to have us face our addiction.”