Opinion ID: 1679292
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Consecutive Sentences and Disciplinary Detention.

Text: This court has not addressed the issue of whether consecutive sentences are treated as one sentence for the determination of disciplinary detention status. The State argues the district court correctly concluded this issue is controlled by Iowa Code section 901.8 (1991), which states: [I]f consecutive sentences are specified in the order of commitment, the several terms shall be construed as one continuous term of imprisonment. Thompson argues section 901.8 is qualified by Iowa Code section 903A.7, which states: When an inmate is committed under several convictions with consecutive sentences, they shall be construed as one continuous sentence in the granting or forfeiting of good conduct time.  (Emphasis added.) He claims that because section 903A.7 expressly mentions good conduct time it is implied that the legislature intended to exclude other items affecting an inmate's sentence, including disciplinary detention status. See State v. Hatter, 414 N.W.2d 333, 337 (Iowa 1987) (The express mention of one thing in a statute implies the exclusion of others.). Therefore, for purposes of determining disciplinary detention status, consecutive sentences are construed as separate sentences. Thompson urges that if section 903A.7 is not construed in this manner it unnecessarily duplicates language contained in section 901.8. When construing statutes, we look to the object to be accomplished and the evils and mischiefs sought to be remedied in order to reach a result which will best effectuate the statute's purpose rather than one which will defeat it. Iowa Nat'l Indus. Loan Co. v. Iowa State Dep't of Revenue, 224 N.W.2d 437, 440 (Iowa 1974). Besides requiring consecutive sentences to be treated as one sentence, section 901.8 requires sentences imposed for escape and crimes committed while confined in the institution to be served consecutive to any existing sentence. This furthers the state's interest in preserving order and discipline within its penal institutions by imposing increased imprisonment upon inmates who perpetrate crimes while incarcerated. See State v. Jones, 298 N.W.2d 296, 299 (Iowa 1980). Treating consecutive sentences as separate sentences for disciplinary detention purposes would allow each inmate's accumulated disciplinary detention to be effectively expunged at the end of each separate sentence. Thus, if inmates accumulate disciplinary detention beyond the term of one of their first consecutively served sentences, the imposition of additional disciplinary detention during that term would not deter them from engaging in improper conduct. The State's goal of preserving order would be jeopardized, in conflict with the purposes of section 901.8. Therefore, interpreting section 903A.7 as applying only to good time accumulation would defeat the purpose of section 901.8. We reject such an interpretation. Our conclusion that section 901.8 is controlling in this situation also answers Thompson's contention that the disciplinary detention imposed for each ten-year sentence was authorized under separate statutes and should therefore be treated separately. Section 901.8 has required that consecutive sentences be treated as one sentence since the time Thompson was originally sentenced and continues to do so in the 1993 Code. See Iowa Code § 901.8 (1981); Iowa Code § 901.8 (1993). Moreover, as the district court notes, courts are to invoke a policy of judicial restraint in dealing with the unique problems of penal environments. Overton v. State, 493 N.W.2d 857, 860 (Iowa 1992). We should accord prison administrators wide-ranging deference in the adoption and execution of policies and practices that in their judgment are needed to preserve internal order and discipline and to maintain institutional security. Id. (citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 547, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1878, 60 L.Ed.2d 447, 474 (1979)). Deference is especially important in a situation such as this in which we are asked to determine how prison authorities should administer their own internal discipline. [1]