King v. Hofmann

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of inmate complaints challenging the Department of Corrections’ methodology for calculating good-time credit. The court held that 28 V.S.A. § 811 bases earned credit on periods of actual incarceration and that a 2005 statutory amendment did not require retrospective calculation based on the originally imposed sentences.

Holdings

1. Section 811 unambiguously provides that good-time credit is earned after an inmate completes a thirty-day period of incarceration during which the inmate has faithfully observed the applicable rules and regulations; it does not require credit to be calculated from the inmate's originally imposed minimum and maximum sentences.
2. The 2005 amendment did not require the Department of Corrections to retrospectively award all potential good-time credit based on the originally imposed sentence and did not alter the methodology applicable to sentences for offenses committed before 2005.
3. Section 701(c), which defines references to sentencing or confinement in a Department facility as confinement in the custody of the commissioner, has no logical connection to the inmates' claim concerning good-time-credit calculations.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 28 V.S.A. § 811 requires the Department of Corrections to calculate good-time credit from an inmate's imposed minimum and maximum sentences rather than from time actually served.
2. Whether the 2005 amendment to § 811 required a retrospective award of all potential good-time credit based on the originally imposed sentence.
3. Whether 28 V.S.A. § 701(c) supports calculating good-time credit from the terms of confinement imposed at sentencing.
4. Whether the statutory good-time-credit scheme was constitutionally infirm on its face or as applied.

Disposition

affirmed