Louisiana’s prison system routinely holds people weeks and months after they have completed their sentences, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday. The suit against the state of Louisiana follows a multiyear investigation into what federal officials say is a pattern of “systemic overdetention” that violates inmates’ rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

The Justice Department hast sued the state of Louisiana for unlawfully imprisoning thousands of people for weeks after their sentences concluded.

Louisiana’s prison system routinely holds people weeks and months after they have completed their sentences. That is according to a lawsuit filed Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a joint statement Saturday after the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against the State of Louisiana and the state’s Department of Public Safety and Corrections.