Opinion ID: 1115994
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Retrospective

Text: The second part of the Weaver test is whether the 1982 amendments are retrospective. (1) For a law to be retrospective, it must apply to events occurring before its enactment. ( Weaver, supra, 450 U.S. at p. 29 [67 L.Ed.2d at p. 23].) A retrospective law violates the ex post facto clauses when it substantially alters the consequences attached to a crime already completed, and therefore changes `the quantum of punishment.' ( Id., at p. 33 [67 L.Ed.2d at p. 25], citing Dobbert v. Florida (1977) 432 U.S. 282 [53 L.Ed.2d 344, 97 S.Ct. 2290].) (2) We conclude that the 1982 amendments are not retrospective and therefore do not violate the ex post facto clauses. Petitioner, citing Paez, contends that the 1982 amendments relate to the original offense, not to the infraction committed in prison. We disagree. It is true that the 1982 amendments apply to petitioner only because he is a prisoner and that he is a prisoner only because of an act committed before the 1982 amendments. Nonetheless, the increased sanctions are imposed solely because of petitioner's prison misconduct occurring after the 1982 amendments became effective. In other words, the 1982 amendments apply only to events occurring after their enactment. If any aspect of prison life is unconnected to a prisoner's original crime, it would seem to be the sanctions for his misconduct while in prison. Accordingly, the 1982 amendments, which change the sanctions for that misconduct, do not relate to petitioner's original crime and are not retrospective under Weaver. The Weaver court held that the opportunity to earn good time credits was one determinant of petitioner's [initial] prison term  and that his effective sentence is altered once this determination is changed. ( Weaver, supra, 450 U.S. at p. 32 [67 L.Ed.2d at p. 25].) There is a critical difference between a diminution of the ordinary rewards for satisfactory performance of a prison sentence  the issue in Weaver  and an increase in sanctions for future misbehavior in prison  which is at issue here. Here, petitioner's opportunity to earn good behavior and participation credits is unchanged. All that has changed are the sanctions for prison misconduct. Unlike Weaver, petitioner's effective sentence is not altered by the 1982 amendments unless petitioner, by his own action, chooses to alter his sentence. We cannot conclude that sanctions for future prison misconduct that might occur were one determinant of petitioner's initial sentence. Even if we were to accept petitioner's argument that the 1982 amendments relate to his initial offense, we would still hold that the ex post facto clauses are not violated. Although Weaver held that the ex post facto clauses apply to punitive conditions outside the sentence ( Weaver, supra, 450 U.S. at p. 32 [67 L.Ed.2d at p. 25]), they do not apply to any change in prison conditions but only those changes that increase the punishment ( id., at p. 29 [67 L.Ed.2d at p. 23]). We find that the 1982 amendments simply change one aspect of petitioner's life in prison. The 1982 amendments neither increase petitioner's maximum sentence nor reduce the good behavior credits he can earn. While the distinction between punitive conditions (which implicate the ex post facto clauses) and other prison conditions is often not salient, we believe that the 1982 amendments do not affect petitioner's punitive conditions. As an administrative matter, a prison may well be able to function under a plan in which different classes of prisoners are entitled to different levels of rewards for good conduct. It is, however, something entirely different to have a prison population subject to different disciplinary rules and penalties for violations in prison. From the standpoint of prison order, it is simply infeasible to run a prison in which some inmates are wholly or partially immune from punishment for conduct for which others receive serious penalties. [7] No authority compels us to extend Weaver to the future-prison-misconduct context. The only case cited as being in point is Greenfield v. Scafati (D.Mass. 1967) 277 F. Supp. 644, affd. per curiam (1968) 390 U.S. 713 [20 L.Ed.2d 250, 88 S.Ct. 1409]. There a three-judge district court enjoined the operation of a Massachusetts statute (1965 Mass. Acts, ch. 884) as far as persons sentenced for crimes committed before its effective date were concerned. In brief, the statute deprived prisoners returned to prison for parole violations of the automatic credit for presumed good behavior during the first six months after return to custody. The three-judge court held that the statute disadvantaged persons who had committed crimes before its effective date by converting an unqualified parole into a parole cum onere, i.e. subject to ch. 884. In other words, before the passage of the statute, a parolee who violated his parole faced revocation but, once back in prison, was on a par with other inmates as far as credits for the next six months were concerned. The statute, however, created an additional penalty for a parole violation. For two reasons we do not consider Greenfield controlling here: (1) the focus of Greenfield was not on the effect on prison administration of a holding that the statute was invalid, but on conduct outside the prison walls; (2) invalidating the statute as to certain prisoners did not have the effect of immunizing their future conduct from sanctions for prison rule violations. As far as one can tell, they remained subject to loss of credits for misbehavior. In Weaver, the United States Supreme Court stated that, a prisoner's eligibility for reduced imprisonment is a significant factor entering into both the defendant's decision to plea bargain and the judge's calculation of the sentence to be imposed. ( Weaver, supra, 450 U.S. at p. 32 [67 L.Ed.2d at p. 25].) Nonetheless, we reject the notion that the sanctions for possible future prison misconduct constitute a significant factor for either the trial judge or defendant. We conclude that the frequency and seriousness of a defendant's future prison misconduct is too contingent and remote to influence significantly either defendants or trial courts before plea and sentencing. (See id., at p. 32.) We thus determine that the 1982 amendments are not retrospective and therefore do not violate the ex post facto clauses. Our holding is bolstered by the policy behind the ex post facto clauses that criminal laws must give fair warning to those who may fall within their ambit. ( Weaver, supra, 450 U.S. at p. 28 [67 L.Ed.2d at p. 22].) Here, of course, petitioner had fair warning that if he committed certain offenses after January 1, 1983, he would be subject to increased sanctions. To the extent In re Paez, supra, 148 Cal. App.3d 919, is in conflict with this opinion, that case is disapproved. The writ of habeas corpus is denied.