Court Opinion

ID: 9884373
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:54:09.4426+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:37.998065
License: Public Domain

BARNES, Judge,
concurring with separate opinion.
I concur fully in Judge May's analysis of the precedent, particularly the application of the Diaz case to this set of facts. I also am keenly aware of the need for the Department of Correction to maintain control of inmates within its institutions by having a disciplinary scheme and protocol in place. I am perplexed, though, by a system that encourages inmates to pursue education, here, a G.E.D., and but does not allow the credit time contemplated by the statutes put in place to foster exactly this sort of activity by inmates.
I do not for a minute wish to suggest that an inmate can seriously misbehave and gain education credit. Here, however, a close examination of the facts shows that although Wilson accumulated the two Class B disciplinary violations within one year of his obtaining a G.E.D., both offenses pre-dated his entry into the G.E.D. program. The available record indicates that Wilson pled guilty to the second infraction on December 12, 2001, and began attending G.E.D. classes on December 19, 2001. Additionally, Wilson was already deprived of ninety days of credit time for each offense, apart from the separate denial of education credit time. In effect, the Department of Correction "double-dipped" by also prohibiting Wilson from earning credit for obtaining a G.E.D. In my view, it is sound public policy to encourage education among Indiana's inmate population. The result in this case, which is absolutely legally correct, does not further this worthy goal.