Opinion ID: 2565663
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Eligibility for Earned Meritorious Deductions

Text: {19} The New Mexico statutory provision regarding Eligibility for Earned Meritorious Deductions states in pertinent part: To earn meritorious deductions, a prisoner confined in a correctional facility . . . must be an active participant in programs recommended for the prisoner. . . . Section 33-2-34(A). The section also states that an offender sentenced to confinement in a correctional facility designated by the corrections department who has been released from confinement and who is serving a parole term may be awarded earned meritorious deductions. Section 33-2-34(M) (2006). The plain language of the statute, therefore, shows a legislative intent that Meritorious Deductions (i) be earned by offenders who are currently incarcerated or who have been released on parole and (ii) be applied to the periods of incarceration or parole. {20} Case law evinces this Court's similar understanding of the application of Meritorious Deductions. In Coutts v. Cox, we held that Meritorious Deductions were to be deducted from the maximum unsuspended portion of a sentence for the purpose of determining a prisoner's release date and concomitant eligibility for parole. 75 N.M. 761, 764-65, 411 P.2d 347, 349 (1966). Later, in Brooks v. Shanks, this Court reversed the dismissal of a petition for habeas corpus, which contended that the process by which petitioner's Meritorious Deductions had been forfeited violated his procedural due process rights, even though petitioner had already been released from custody and was on parole. 118 N.M. 716, 717-18, 885 P.2d 637, 638-39 (1994). This Court thereby sanctioned the application of Meritorious Deductions to reduce the parole term. See 118 N.M. at 718 n. 2, 885 P.2d at 639 n. 2.