Opinion ID: 2355052
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Former RCW 9.92.151 Requires County Jails To Provide Opportunities for Presentence Inmates To Earn Good-Time Credit

Text: ¶ 22 Former RCW 9.92.151 establishes the standards for earned early release credit for inmates held in county facilities. [3] See In re Pers. Restraint of Erickson, 146 Wash.App. 576, 583 n. 23, 191 P.3d 917 (2008). Earned early release credit is also known as good time. Williams, 121 Wash.2d at 658, 853 P.2d 444. The statute provides, The earned early release time shall be for good behavior and good performance as determined by the correctional agency having jurisdiction. Former RCW 9.92.151(1).  Any program established pursuant to this section shall allow an offender to earn early-release credits for presentence incarceration. Id. (emphasis added). ¶ 23 As applied to Talley, Skamania County's program for earned early-release credit does not comply with former RCW 9.92.151(1). Under the county's program, Talley could not earn any type of good-time credit. He could not earn credit for good conduct and could not participate in specified programs to accrue earned time. However, the statute requires that [a]ny program ... shall allow an offender to earn early release credits for presentence incarceration. Id. Because Skamania County's program did not allow Talley to earn good-time credit, it failed to comply with former RCW 9.92.151. See In re Pers. Restraint of King, 146 Wash.2d 658, 663, 49 P.3d 854 (2002). [4] ¶ 24 In their briefs, neither Skamania County nor the Department argues that the county's program complied with the statutory requirements. The Department argues that it could justifiably rely on the county's jail-time certification. The Department may presumptively rely on a county's jail-time certification absent a manifest error of law. Williams, 121 Wash.2d at 664, 853 P.2d 444. However, while the Department's assertion is correct, it is also irrelevant. Whether the Department could presumptively rely on the county's jail-time certification does not resolve whether the county's program complied with former RCW 9.92.151(1). ¶ 25 Skamania County argues that the statutory issue is not properly before us because Talley did not raise the statutory issue in his motion for discretionary review. For the reasons discussed above, this argument fails. See supra pp. 872. The statutory issue is properly before this court and, as applied to Talley, the Skamania County program failed to comply with former RCW 9.92.151(1). We hold that former RCW 9.92.151(1) requires a county jail to provide opportunities for a presentence inmate to earn credit toward early release. [5] ¶ 26 Our holding does not entail that every presentence inmate must actually earn good-time credit in a county jail. An offender may forfeit the opportunity to receive good-time credit by the offender's own misbehavior or poor performance. However, former RCW 9.92.151(1) requires that the offender first have this opportunity. Whether to take advantage of this opportunity is up to the offender.