Former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain is set to plead guilty Wednesday to federal corruption charges related to an inmate work release scheme he ran while in office. Strain is already facing life in state prison after his multiple rape and incest convictions last month, so what could he be hoping to gain by pleading guilty to these federal charges?
“Not much, other than avoiding the expense and effort of going through a trial,” Loyola Law Professor Dane Ciolino told WWL. “This is really just a matter of saving trouble and expense, and nothing more. Assuming his state court convictions are not reversed on appeal he is going to die in prison.”
The feds indicted Strain in 2019 on charges that he got kickbacks in exchange for sending contracts related to a Slidell area prison work-release program to the children of two of his confidants.
Ciolino said Strain faces long odds of winning enough appeals to still avoid spending the rest of his life in state prison after being convicted on multiple rape and incest charges.
“It is unlikely that he will get a lot of serious traction on most of his appeals so all roads lead to jail for Mr. Strain,” said Ciolino.
There’s speculation that this could be a play for Strain to get to spend the rest of his life behind bars at a federal prison, but Ciolino said with Strain’s impending January sentencing in state court that’s a long shot.
“There still may be some chance that the Bureau of Prisons might elect to have him serve that federal sentence first, but that is unlikely,” said Ciolino.