Opinion ID: 1814885
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Heading: Credit for Time Served and for Good Conduct Time.

Text: Preconviction credit for days served is allowed by Iowa Code section 903A.5, which provides in part: An inmate shall not be discharged from the custody of the director of the Iowa department of corrections until the inmate has served the full term for which the inmate was sentenced, less good conduct time earned and not forfeited, unless the inmate is pardoned or otherwise legally released.... An inmate shall be deemed to be serving the sentence from the day on which the inmate is received into the institution. However, if an inmate was confined to a county jail or other correctional or mental facility at any time prior to sentencing, or after sentencing but prior to the case having been decided on appeal, because of failure to furnish bail or because of being charged with a non-bailable offense, the inmate shall be given credit for the days already served upon the term of the sentence. The clerk of the district court of the county from which the inmate was sentenced, shall certify to the warden the number of days so served. Credit for good conduct time is provided by Iowa Code section 903A.2, which provides in part: Each inmate of an institution under the Iowa department of corrections, is eligible for a reduction of sentence of one day for each day of good conduct of the inmate while committed to one of the department's institutions.... Computation of good conduct time is subject to the following conditions: 1. Time served in jail or other facility, credited by the clerk of court prior to actual placement in a correctional institution, shall accrue for purposes of reduction of sentence under this section.
If the court imposes consecutive sentences, the second or further sentence begins at the expiration of the first or succeeding sentence. See Iowa Code § 901.8. Consecutive sentences are construed as one continuous sentence in granting or forfeiting of good conduct time. Id. § 903A.7. If the court imposes concurrent sentences, the sentences must be served simultaneously in whole or in part. Walton v. State, 407 N.W.2d 588, 590 (Iowa 1987). To be entitled to sentence credit for presentence time served, the defendant must have been detained for the offense of which he ultimately is convicted. Id. at 591. A defendant is not entitled to presentence time served while incarcerated on an unrelated conviction. State v. Orte, 540 N.W.2d 435, 438 (Iowa 1995).
Here, both the State and Canas agree the allowance of no credit for time served on the 1991 conviction was incorrect. The court in its ruling on the motion for correction of sentence concluded Canas should receive credit from the day he was sentenced on the 1991 conviction until he was released by the Iowa department of corrections and placed on parole on January 27, 1992. On appeal, the State concedes Canas is also entitled to credit from the date of his arrest. In our review of the record, it appears Canas was arraigned on the 1991 criminal charge on April 23, 1991. At that time he appeared and entered a not guilty plea, his bond was set by the court, and a trial date was set. There is no record that he furnished bail at that time. His incarceration in the correctional facility continued until he was paroled on the 1990 conviction. Although he was present for arraignment, discovery, trial, and sentencing on the 1991 offense, the department of corrections or the sheriff maintained legal custody of him from the arraignment until his release on January 27, 1992. In State v. Harrison , we stated: General rules govern concurrent sentences. Such sentences operate at the same time. Each day the defendant serves a day of each sentence. The defendant is entitled to discharge on completion of the term served under the longest sentence. However, the defendant must serve until all the concurrent sentences have ended. When sentences are imposed at different times or for different periods of time and are ordered to run concurrently, the sentences run together during the time they overlap. The new or longer term does not necessarily end at the same time as the earlier or shorter term. In addition, the defendant receives no credit on the latter sentence for the time served before it began. This is because the underlying assumption of all sentencing provisions is that a charge precedes a sentence. Until that charge is brought, a defendant cannot be incarcerated for it. .... When concurrent sentences are involved, section 903A.5 is consistent with the general rule that an incarcerated defendant receives no credit on the latter sentence for the time served before it began. In these circumstances, the defendant is already in the institution when the second sentence is imposed. The second sentence begins to run from the time of its imposition. The statute, of course, expressly allows the defendant to receive credit for any presentence confinement relating to the second conviction. The critical question boils down to this: When does the presentence confinement begin? State v. Harrison, 468 N.W.2d 215, 217 (Iowa 1991). In Harrison, we held presentence confinement for the second conviction began the day the defendant received a copy of the arrest warrant on the second charge. Id. Here, Canas was arraigned on the second offense before receiving a copy of the arrest warrant. Confinement began when he was arraigned and not released from custody on the second charge. It did not begin at the time the trial information was filed as urged by Canas. During the three-year period that Canas was on parole, he was also on probation for the 1991 conviction. He remained on probation after he was discharged from parole in January 1995. The discharge from parole terminated his 1990 sentence. See Iowa Code § 906.15. The time a prisoner is on parole is credited to the sentence of the parolee. Id. § 906.16. In contrast, the time a probationer serves on probation is not credited as time served on the sentence of the probationer. See Mills v. State, 308 N.W.2d 65, 66 (Iowa 1981). Granting credit to a person on parole, but denying credit to a person on probation, does not violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. Id. at 67. The general rule is that, absent a specific provision allowing for it, a court does not err by denying credit for time served on probation. Trecker v. State, 320 N.W.2d 594, 595 (Iowa 1982). Canas argues he should receive credit for time served and good conduct time on the 1991 sentence while he was on parole for the 1990 sentence because the court had ordered the sentences to run concurrently. There is no Iowa statutory provision for credit for street time while on probation. The failure of the legislature to require that the court give credit for time served while on probation indicates the legislature did not intend to grant such credit. We conclude, absent a specific provision in our statutes, Canas is not entitled to credit on his sentence for time he served while on probation. Nor is he entitled to credit on his 1991 sentence for that time he was on parole for his 1990 sentence. We remand to the district court so that the court can determine the exact credit to which Canas is entitled. Upon the court's determination of the time served by Canas, the department of corrections can give him appropriate credit for good conduct time as provided by Iowa Code section 903A.3. AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.