Good time could apply to jails

Officials from the Wyoming Department of Corrections recently requested the Joint Judiciary Committee to consider a law change to let offenders earn credit for good behavior while they wait in jail.

Sergeant Detention Administrator Beth Price explained that the jail does not currently have the authority to assign what is commonly referred to as “good time” for inmates toward their sentence. She further noted that the judge could take into account any time an inmate has served here at sentencing.

Inmates sentenced to a facility under the Wyoming Department of Corrections can earn good time, generally a portion of a day off their sentences — such as a third or a half — for every day they abide by the prison rules.

However the Wyoming statute for good time allowances, W.S. 7-13-420, provides for the governor to adopt rules and regulations establishing a system of good time and special good time allowances for inmates and parolees from any state penal institution, any institution which houses Wyoming inmates pursuant to Western Interstate Correction Compact “or any correctional facility operated pursuant to a contract with the state or inmates or parolees transferred to a community correctional facility. The rules may provide either for good time to be deducted from the maximum sentence or for good time to be deducted from the minimum sentence imposed by the sentencing court, or both, and may provide for the removal of previously earned good time allowances and the withholding of future good time allowances.”

In its current state, the statute does not specifically provide for good time allowances in county jails such as the one here in Hot Springs County.

Price also said that within 72 hours of the arrest, a subject has to appear before a judge, have bond set or have a court date established. As for how long it can take for a jail inmate to receive a final sentence, she said it depends largely on severity of the crime.

In circuit court, she estimated the average time from initial arrest to sentence is about six months. In district court, it can take up to two years. If a person has waived his or her right to a speedy trial, it can take even longer.

If the change is made to the state’s good time law, that time waiting would be applied to any prison sentence received. A sentence of three to five years for someone who has been waiting — and behaving — in county jail for two years could see only about a year in prison before release or parole.