Opinion ID: 1997568
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Andrews' Case

Text: In this case, the Superior Court ordered that the good time credits earned by Andrews while serving his two sentences imposed after the Truth-in-Sentencing Act be specifically deducted from those sentences. The Superior Court did not explain, however, how its method of crediting Andrews' good time credits would impact those sentences. There are two possible consequences to crediting Andrews' good time on his sentences imposed after Truth-in-Sentencing using the method ordered by the Superior Court. First, deducting Andrews' good time credits specifically from his after Truth-in-Sentencing sentences would have the effect of reducing the overall length of those sentences. The parties agree, however, that this cannot be the result because good time credited on sentences imposed after the Act cannot affect the overall length of the sentences. 11 Del.C. § 4348. The alternative consequence is that Andrews' good time credits on sentences imposed after the Act, although specifically credited to his after Truth-in-Sentencing sentences, would not reduce the overall length of those sentences. Andrews, therefore, would still have to serve a period of conditional release associated on those sentences until he reached the maximum expiration of those sentences. The Department argues that crediting good time as ordered by the Superior Court under the alternative consequences would lead to a number of absurd results that could not have been intended by the General Assembly. First, Andrews would be conditionally released from his sentences imposed after the Act only to be immediately reincarcerated to finish serving his sentences imposed prior to the Act, thereby violating the spirit of this Court's holding in Watson v. Burgan , [47] as is discussed below. Moreover, because an inmate who is conditionally released is required by law to remain on conditional release until the maximum expiration date of his term, Andrews would have to serve in prison the conditional release period associated with his sentences imposed after the Act concurrently with his sentences before the Act. The Department argues that this would be contrary to 11 Del.C. § 4216, that mandates that an inmate's sentence imposed after the Act must be served first until it is completed before the resumption of any sentence imposed before the Act. We agree with the Department that crediting the good time that Andrews earns on the sentences imposed after the Act in the manner prescribed by the Superior Court would lead to the same anomalous results that this Court criticized in Watson v. Burgan . [48] In that case, Burgan pled guilty to first degree assault and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony. He was sentenced, prior to Truth-in-Sentencing, to ten years on the assault charge and five years minimum mandatory on the weapon charge. Pursuant to the clear language of 11 Del.C. § 1447(c), Burgan was required to serve his nonmandatory assault sentence before serving his mandatory possession of a weapon sentence. Notwithstanding Section 1447(c), the Department had a policy of administratively realigning an inmate's sentences to permit the inmate to serve his minimum mandatory sentence prior to any nonmandatory sentence. [49] The Attorney General issued an opinion criticizing the Department's practice as being contrary to the clear language of Section 1447(c). Based on the Attorney General's opinion, the Department revised its method for calculating parole eligibility and conditional release dates, which had the effect of revoking Burgan's then-existing right to apply for parole. On appeal, this Court concluded that, despite the clear language of 11 Del.C. § 1447(c), its application to both the parole process and accrued good time credits created an obvious conflict. [50] The Court found that requiring an inmate to serve a nonmandatory sentence first was illogical in Burgan's case because it meant that Burgan's release on parole from his nonmandatory sentence would merely transfer him to a mandatory term of imprisonment to which no parole eligibility or good time credit attaches. [51] The Court stated: Such a process is not only illogical, it defeats the goal of release to the community through the gradual process of reduced levels of confinement as a transition to ultimate release.... .... We fail to understand how the beneficial effect of parole supervision can occur through a prisoner's parole to a mandatory sentence of imprisonment. Such an arrangement is inconsistent with the basic goal of parole. [52] Thus, the Court concluded in Burgan that the Department's original regulation was correctly not controlled by the literal text of Section 1447(c) but by the legislative purpose underlying the statutes for parole eligibility and good time credits. We find this rationale persuasive in Andrews' case. If the good time credits earned on a sentence imposed after the Truth-in-Sentencing Act do not shorten the overall length of his sentences, then crediting Andrews' good time as ordered by the Superior Court is tantamount to conditionally releasing Andrews' from his sentences imposed after the Act only to have him immediately reincarcerated to serve out the remaining time left on the fourteen-year term sentences imposed before the Act. While such a procedure may be theoretically possible, it is illogical. An inmate who is conditionally released under 11 Del.C. § 4348 is required by law to remain on conditional release until the maximum expiration of his prison term. Thus, to conditionally release an inmate serving a sentence imposed after Truth-in-Sentencing to serve a sentence imposed before Truth-in-Sentencing would require the inmate to serve his period of conditional release in prison concurrently with the sentence imposed before Truth-in-Sentencing. That procedure would defeat the goal of release to the community through the gradual process of reduced levels of confinement as a transition to ultimate release. [53] Accordingly, we conclude that the Department's method of calculating and crediting good time for inmates serving sentences imposed both before and after the Act is supported by a reasonable in pari materia reading of the applicable statutes. Unlike the method ordered by the Superior Court, the Department's method of crediting good time results in the computation of one parole eligibility date and one conditional release date for each inmate, without regard to the number of sentences being served by the inmate. That result is consistent with the basic goals of parole and conditional release as set forth in the statutes. [54]