A defendant who is sentenced for a criminal offense may be entitled to two types of credits. These credits are flat time credits and good time credits. Flat time credits are credits for pretrial jail time. Goodtime credits are credits for good behavior.

Flat time credits

In most states, a trial court must give a defendant flat time credits for time that the defendant spent in jail after he or she was arrested and until he or she was sentenced for a criminal offense. Flat time credits are computed based on the actual number of days that the defendant spent in jail. They are deducted from the defendant's sentence. However, the defendant is not entitled to credit for the time that he or she was under community supervision or was on electronic monitoring. The defendant must have actually spent time in jail.

A defendant is entitled to sentencing credit for pretrial detention because of the equal protection implications of the defendant's financial inability to post bond while he or she is awaiting trial for an offense. The defendant's equal protection rights are deemed to be violated if the defendant receives a longer incarceration because he or she is indigent. However, this limitation normally only applies when the defendant receives the maximum sentence for his or her offense. If the defendant receives less than the maximum sentence, his or her equal protection rights may not be violated.

A defendant may raise the issue of flat time credits at any time. The defendant may even raise the issue in post-conviction proceedings, such as a habeas corpus proceeding. Because the defendant is not challenging his or her conviction and is only challenging the time that he or she must serve, the defendant does not waive the issue by failing to object to a lack of credits at the time of his or her sentencing.

In order to receive flat time credits, a defendant's time in jail must be for the same offense as the offense for which the defendant is sentenced. It cannot be for a separate offense.

If a defendant is given consecutive sentences for multiple offenses, the defendant is entitled to multiple credits for his or her pretrial confinement. The flat time credits are awarded separately and are applied to each of the consecutive sentences. However, the pretrial confinement must be for the multiple offenses. It cannot be caused solely by the commission of an unrelated offense.

A defendant who is confined in another state is not entitled to flat time credits for his or her pretrial detention in the other state unless the other state has placed a detainer or a hold on the defendant. Also, the defendant is not entitled to flat time credits on a federal sentence for time that he or she served for an unrelated state offense, even if the state offense and the federal offense resulted from the same act or acts. However, the defendant is entitled to flat time credits on the federal sentence if he or she was in state custody as a result of actions by federal officials.

A defendant is entitled to flat time credits for time that he or she was confined while awaiting a parole revocation hearing. Also, the defendant is entitled to flat time credits for time that he or she spent in jail pending the disposition of an appeal. The defendant is further entitled to flat time credits for time that he or she spent in a mental facility as a result of incompetency proceedings.

Good time credits

When a defendant is confined in a county jail, the county sheriff may grant credits to the defendant for the defendant's good behavior. Good behavior includes good conduct, industry, and obedience. The credit for good behavior is normally one day for each day served. The total of the good behavior credits cannot usually exceed one-third of the defendant's sentence.

A county sheriff has the authority to forfeit any good time credits if a defendant engages in misconduct. However, the sheriff must comply with certain disciplinary proceedings prior to forfeiting the good time credits.

A county sheriff must keep a record of a defendant's behavior in jail. If the defendant is transferred to another facility, he or she may be awarded good time credits in the other facility based on his or her behavior in jail.


Copyright 2006 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.