Ohio Administrative Code › Title 5120 - Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections - Administration and Director › Chapter 5120-2 - Determination, Reduction of Sentence › Section 5120-2-06 - Earned credit for productive program participation

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) Except as otherwise provided in this
			 rule, any person confined in a state correctional institution or placed in a
			 substance use disorder treatment program, may earn credit as a deduction from
			 the person's sentence for each full month of productive participation, as
			 defined by the director of the department of rehabilitation and correction, in
			 any academic or vocational program, workforce development or employment
			 program, prison industry, or alcohol and drug treatment, unit management
			 program, mental health program or other program specifically approved by the
			 director. A person may also earn credit as a deduction from the person's
			 sentence for productively participating in a substance use disorder treatment
			 program established by the department pursuant to section
			 5120.035 of the Revised Code. A
			 person earning credit towards a sentence pursuant to section
			 2967.193 of the Revised Code
			 (House Bill 261 of the 117th General Assembly), for a crime committed prior to
			 July 1, 1996 may earn two days of credit for such participation as described in
			 paragraph (I) of this rule as a deduction from the person's minimum or definite
			 sentence. A person earning credit towards a sentence for a crime committed on
			 or after July 1, 1996 may earn one day of credit or five days of credit,
			 monthly, based upon the most serious offense for which they are serving a
			 stated prison term, and as provided in this rule. Unless the person is serving
			 a mandatory prison term, a prison term imposed for an offense of violence, or a
			 prison term imposed for a sexually oriented offense, notwithstanding the
			 maximum aggregate days of credit specified in paragraph (Q) of this rule, a
			 person who, while confined in a state correctional institution or placed in a
			 substance use disorder treatment, successfully completes a program described in
			 division (A)(3) of section
			 2967.194 of the Revised Code, is
			 eligible to earn, at the end of the program cycle, a credit of ninety days
			 toward satisfaction of the person's stated prison term or a ten per cent
			 reduction of the person's stated prison term, whichever is less.
(B) The director or designee will issue and
			 maintain a list containing the specific name of each approved program at each
			 institution. Programs may be added or deleted according to a procedure approved
			 by the director. No inmate is eligible to be awarded earned credit for
			 participating in any program not specifically named on the director's
			 list.
(C) Inmates earning credit
			 pursuant to House Bill 261 of the 117th General Assembly, may earn two days of
			 credit for participating in an approved academic or vocational or prison
			 industries program in addition to two days credit for program participation.
			 However, no inmate sentenced under House Bill 261 of the 117th General Assembly
			 is eligble to earn days of credit for participation in more than one academic
			 or vocational education program or prison industry during a particular month.
			 No inmate sentenced under House Bill 261 of the 117th General Assembly is
			 eligible to earn days of credit for participating in more than one residential
			 or outpatient alcohol, drug, sex offender, or therapeutic community, or mental
			 health treatment program during a particular month. Once an inmate earning
			 credit pursuant to House Bill 261 of the 117th General Assembly has earned and
			 has been properly credited with days of credit pursuant to this rule, the
			 credit earned 
								will not be forfeited for any reason. Such inmates,
			 therefore, are exempt from paragraph (J) of this rule, which describes
			 conditions for possible withdrawal of previously earned credit for those
			 inmates earning credit under Senate Bill 2 of the 121st General Assembly, House
			 Bill 86 of the 129th General Assembly, Senate Bill 201 of the 132 General
			 Asembly or Senate Bill 288 of the 134th General Assembly.
(D) Except as otherwise provided for by law,
			 inmates are generally eligible to earn five days of earned credit, per month,
			 for monthly productive participation according to division (A)(2) of section
			 2967.194 of the Revised Code.
			 Inmates serving a sentence which includes a sexually oriented offense committed
			 before September 30, 2011 may earn only one day of credit per month and such
			 credit may be forfeited pursuant to this rule. Inmates serving a sentence which
			 includes a sexually oriented offense that was committed after September 30,
			 2011 are not eligible for earned credit.
(E) An inmate earning credit towards a
			 minimum or definite sentence pursuant to House Bill 261 of the 117th General
			 Assembly and also earning credit towards a stated prison term pursuant to
			 Senate Bill 2 of the 121st General Assembly for an offense committed before
			 September 30, 2011, House Bill 86 of the 129th General Assembly for an offense
			 committed on or after September 30, 2011 Senate Bill 201 of the 132nd General
			 Assembly for an offense committed on or after March 22, 2019, Senate Bill 288
			 of the 134th General Assembly, or any combination of those five, may have the
			 minimum or definite sentence, the stated prison term, or the minimum and
			 maximum of a non-life felony indefinite prison term, independently reduced by
			 the appropriate days of earned credit applicable to that particular sentence or
			 prison term.
(F) In order to earn
			 credit under this rule for a particular month, an inmate must enter the program
			 on or before the first program day of the month and continue participating in
			 the program through the last program day of the month. An inmate participating
			 and remaining in good standing in an academic or vocational education program,
			 which has a quarter or semester end during a month, is deemed to be
			 participating in the program through the end of the month. An inmate who
			 successfully completes a formal program resulting in the issuance of a
			 certificate of completion during a month is deemed to have continued
			 participating in the program through the end of that month.
(G) To earn monthly credit, an inmate must
			 meet the requirements set forth in the departmental policy for productive
			 particpation of earned credit.
(H)
			 No inmate will receive earned credit for program participation during any month
			 in which the inmate has had an unexcused absence from the program. Unexcused
			 absence includes but is not limited to an absence caused by confinement in
			 security control or disciplinary control as a result of a violation of
			 institution rules.
(I) No inmate
			 shall earn credit during any month in which the inmate exhibits behavior
			 considered to be a hindrance to the productive participation of the inmate or
			 others. Such behavior shall be documented
			 by a conduct report and substantiated through a guilty finding of the hearing
			 officer or rules infraction board.
(J) Any inmate sentenced under Senate Bill 2
			 of the 121st General Assembly for an offense committed before September 30,
			 2011, under House Bill 86 of the 129th General Assembly for an offense
			 committed on or after September 30, 2011, or under Senate Bill 201 of the 132nd
			 General Assembly for an offense committed on or after March 22, 2019, or Senate
			 Bill 288 of the 134th General Assembly for an offense occuring after April 4,
			 2024, having pled or been found guilty by the rules infraction board of a
			 violation of the inmate rules of conduct as described in rule
			 5120-9-06 of the Administrative
			 Code or a program related violation, may have previously earned credit days
			 forfeited. The rules infraction board, in addition to assessing any other
			 appropriate disciplinary measures, may recommend the withdrawing of earned
			 credit awarded from previous months. An inmate may not have more than fifty per
			 cent of previously earned credit days withdrawn in any calendar month unless
			 the rule violation for which credit is being withdrawn involved sexual
			 misconduct or an act of violence. The department shall identify in its written
			 policies the specific rule violations that constitute sexual misconduct or acts
			 of violence for which more than fifty per cent of previously earned credit days
			 may be withdrawn in any calendar month. If the fifty per cent calculation
			 results in a one-half or half day remainder, the half day is rounded up to a
			 full day. A recommendation by the rules infraction board to withdraw credit is
			 subject to review by the warden for
			 approval/disapproval/modification.
(K)
								Inmates sentenced
			 under Senate Bill 201 of the 132nd General Assembly for an offense committed on
			 or after March 22, 2019 who complete a program described in paragraph (C)
			 of this rule, having plead or been found guilty by the rules infraction
			 board of a violation of the inmate rules of conduct as set forth in rule
			 5120-9-06 of Administrative Code
			 or a program related violation, may have previously earned program credit
			 forfeited. As soon as practicable after the last day of each month or program
			 cycle, the deputy warden or designee at each institution will report to the
			 bureau of sentence computation the name of each inmate in the institution who
			 has earned credit pursuant to this rule. After such information has been
			 reported, and as is operationally feasible, the bureau will credit the inmate
			 appropriately with the credit earned for that month.
(L) No inmate serving a prison term of one,
			 three, five or six years for use of a firearm imposed pursuant to section
			 2929.71 or
			 2929.72 of the Revised Code, in
			 effect prior to July 1, 1996, for an offense committed prior to July 1, 1996,
			 or pursuant to division (B)(1) of section
			 2929.14 of the Revised Code,
			 effective July 1, 1996, for an offense committed on or after July 1, 1996,
			 including prison terms imposed after September 30, 2011 pursuant to House Bill
			 86 of the 129th General Assembly, is eligible to earn or be awarded any days of
			 credit pursuant to this rule for any program participation which occurs while
			 serving any such period of actual incarceration. An inmate against whom such a
			 sentence was imposed may begin earning days of credit pursuant to this rule
			 after serving any such term in its entirety if the inmate would otherwise be
			 eligible for earned credit.
(M) An
			 inmate who is granted a period of electronically monitored early release is not
			 entitled, during that specified period of confinement, to earn any days of
			 credit pursuant to this rule as a deduction from the inmate's prison term,
			 regardless whether such prison term is for an offense committed before or after
			 July 1, 1996.
(N) No inmate may
			 earn days of credit pursuant to this rule if the inmate is serving a sentence
			 of imprisonment for an offense, committed before July 1, 1996, of:
(1) Life with parole eligibility after
			 serving fifteen full years for an offense of first degree murder or aggravated
			 murder committed prior to October 19, 1981; or
(2) Life parole eligibility after serving
			 twenty full years for the offense of aggravated murder with one of the
			 specifications enumerated in section
			 2929.04 of the Revised Code;
			 or
(3) Life with parole eligibility
			 after serving thirty full years for the offense of aggravated murder with one
			 of the specifications enumerated in section
			 2929.04 of the Revised Code;
			 or
(4) Life imposed prior to
			 October 19, 1981, for an offense other than the offense of first degree or
			 aggravated murder, for which the inmate becomes eligible for parole after
			 serving ten full years pursuant to section
			 2967.13 of the Revised Code;
			 or
(5) Life for rape or felonious
			 sexual penetration; or
(6) A
			 minimum term longer than fifteen years imposed under any law of this state in
			 effect prior to January 1, 1974, for which the inmate becomes eligible for
			 parole after serving ten full years pursuant to section
			 2967.13 of the Revised Code in
			 effect prior to July 1, 1996.