Opinion ID: 3065542
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Good time.

Text: The proposition that the Supreme Court has required “some evidence” of anything derives from a misunderstanding of the differences between “good time” and parole.44 We speak now 37 505 F.3d 846 (9th Cir. 2007). 38 Hayward v. Marshall, 512 F.3d 536, 542 (9th Cir. 2008). 39 334 F.3d 910 (9th Cir. 2003). 40 461 F.3d 1123 (9th Cir. 2006). 41 505 F.3d at 850-51. 42 Hayward v. Marshall, 512 F.3d 536, 542 (9th Cir. 2008). 43 Our panel decision in this case, Hayward v. Marshall, 512 F.3d 536 (9th Cir. 2008) is vacated. 44 Compare Superintendent v. Hill, 472 U.S. 445 (1985) (assessing a Massachusetts good time statute) with Board of Pardons v. Allen, 482 U.S. 369 (1987) (assessing the Montana parole system) and Greenholtz v. Inmates of Neb. Penal & Corr. Complex, 442 U.S. 1 (1979) (assessing the Nebraska parole system). 6318 HAYWARD v. MARSHALL to the commonalities of good time and parole, and address the particularities of California law in the next section of this opinion. Prisoners usually get released before their sentences are over. In many jurisdictions, there are two paths to early release, good time and parole. They differ. Good time is a prison discipline device. Prisoners get a certain number of days of good time for each month or year of their terms, and lose days if they misbehave in prison. The misbehavior does not have to be criminal, and the credit does not depend on predictions of good behavior outside prison. For example, federal prisoners serving terms of more than a year get up to fifty-four days of good time per year, credited at the end of the year, for “exemplary compliance with institutional disciplinary regulations.”45 Accordingly, a federal prisoner sentenced to ten years imprisonment, who obeys the rules in prison, will be released after serving nine years and four months. States likewise typically assign mandatory good time to all prisoners, which they can lose in increments for discipline violations in prison. Good time is designed to give prisoners an incentive to obey prison rules. The right to good time and the losing of it generally depend on how the prisoner behaves in prison, not what he did to be sent there or how authorities think he will behave after he gets out. [5] Because it is ordinarily a fixed, specific entitlement lost on the basis of misconduct, good time is a right to liberty, that is, release from prison, that can be taken from the prisoner only with due process of law. The “some evidence” standard is the quantum of due process that a prisoner charged with a discipline violation that would cost him good time is constitu45 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b)(1). HAYWARD v. MARSHALL 6319 tionally entitled to.46 If his misconduct cannot be proved by at least some evidence, he is entitled to his good time. This standard gives the prisoner some protection against the risk of mistake, losing his good time for misconduct he did not commit. Many states use good time more or less like the federal system.47 For example, Alaska state prisoners, with some exceptions, are “entitled to a deduction of one-third of the term of imprisonment rounded off to the nearest day if the prisoner follows the rules of the correctional facility.”48 The California scheme is considerably more complex than the federal or typical state system and has changed frequently, but generally prisoners with determinate sentences, “shall be credited with a one-fourth reduction on their term of imprisonment, unless all or part of such good behavior credit is denied or forfeited as a result of disciplinary action in the amounts listed in section 3323.”49 The California statute has a schedule of how much good time can be lost for different offenses, for example, up to 360 days for murder or rape, 180 days for other prison misconduct that could be prosecuted as a felony, 90 46 Hill, 472 U.S. at 454. 47 See, e.g., Ala. Code § 14-9-41; Alaska Stat. § 33.20.010; Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 41-1604.07, 41-1604.10; Ark. Code Ann. §§ 12-29-201, 1229-205; Cal. Penal Code §§ 2932-2933; Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 17-22.5-201, -301; Conn. Gen. Stat. § 18-7a; Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, §§ 4381, 4348; D.C. Code § 24-221.01; Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 21-4706, -4722; La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:571.3; Md. Code Ann. Corr. Servs. §§ 3-704; Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 127, § 129C; Mo. Ann. Stat. § 558.041; Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 209.433, .447; N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 651-A:22; N.J. Stat. Ann. § 30:4- 140; Okla. Stat. tit. 57, §§ 65, 138; Or. Rev. Stat. § 169.110; S.C. Code Ann. § 24-13-210; Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-2-111; Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. §§ 498.002 -.004; Va. Code Ann. § 53.1-193 - .196; W. Va. Code Ann. § 31-20-5d; Wis. Stat. Ann. § 302.43; Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-420. 48 Alaska Stat. § 33.20.010(a) (emphasis added). 49 Cal. Code Regs. tit. 15, § 3043 (emphasis added); see also Cal. Penal Code §§ 2901, 2901.5, 2930-2935, 4091. 6320 HAYWARD v. MARSHALL days for misdemeanor misconduct, and 30 days for a “serious disciplinary infraction” as defined by regulation.50 [6] Though the details vary from state to state, good time statutes and regulations have several things in common. First, good time is a right, not a discretionary award.51 This “liberty interest,” as our cases call it, is not a procedural right to be considered for a discretionary benefit. Rather, this is a liberty interest of the most fundamental sort, the prisoner’s right to walk out the prison gate and hear it clang behind him.52 Second, good time is lost after discipline proceedings for violations of prison rules committed while behind bars.53 Third, the number of days is arithmetically calculable, so a prisoner knows when he enters prison that if he complies with the rules, he will be released a certain number of days before the end of the term to which he was sentenced.54 Fourth, any loss of good time is historical, not predictive. Good time is taken away because of something the prisoner has already done, as adjudicated in a discipline proceeding, not for something he may do in the future. Prisons use the entitlement to good time, and reductions in good time, to give the felons in their charge an incentive to behave themselves while in prison, to avoid a situation where a prisoner might think he has nothing to lose.55