Bill 3942

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               3942
Ratification Number:       636
Act Number                 513
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Convicts given credit for good
                           behavior

(A513, R636, H3942)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 24-13-210, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO CREDIT GIVEN CONVICTS FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR, SO AS TO CONSOLIDATE INTO ONE SECTION SEVERAL PROVISIONS OF LAW RELATING TO GOOD BEHAVIOR CREDIT AND PROVIDE UNIFORMITY FOR SUCH POLICIES FOR STATE AND COUNTY CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND TO REPEAL SECTIONS 24-13-240 AND 24-13-250, RELATING TO ADDITIONAL CREDIT FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR AND THE DONATION OF BLOOD.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Convicts given credit for good behavior

Section 1. Section 24-13-210 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 24-13-210. (a) Each prisoner convicted of an offense against this State and confined in the facilities of the Department of Corrections or in a county jail or upon the public works of any county in this State, for a term of one year or more, whose record of conduct shows that he has faithfully observed all the rules of the institution wherein he is confined and has not been subjected to punishment for misbehavior, shall be entitled to a deduction from the term of his sentence beginning with the day on which the service of his sentence commences to run, computed at the rate of twenty days for each month served. When two or more consecutive sentences are to be served, the aggregate of the several sentences shall be the basis upon which the good behavior credit shall be computed.

(b) Each prisoner convicted of an offense against this State and confined in the facilities of the Department of Corrections or a county jail or upon the public works of any county in ,this State, for a term of less than one year, whose record of conduct shows that he has faithfully observed all the rules of the institution wherein he is confined and has not been subjected to punishment for misbehavior, shall be entitled to a deduction from the term of his sentence beginning with the day on which the service of his sentence commences to run, computed at the rate of fifteen days for each month served. When two or more consecutive sentences are to be served, the aggregate of the several sentences shall be the basis upon which good behavior credits shall be computed.

(c) If, during the term of imprisonment, a prisoner commits any offense or violates any of the rules of the institution, all or any part of his good conduct time may be forfeited at the discretion of the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections, if the prisoner be confined in facilities of the department, or ill the discretion of the county official having charge of prisoners and the public works within the county wherein the prisoner is confined. If thereafter the conduct of the prisoner is such as to warrant it, the same officials may, in their discretion, restore all or any portion of the forfeited or lost good conduct time. The decision to withhold or restore forfeited good conduct time shall be solely the responsibility of officials named in this subsection.

(d) Any person who has served the term for which he has been sentenced less deductions allowed therefrom for good conduct shall

on released deemed to have served the entire term for which he was sentenced."

Provisions to apply retroactively

Section 2. The provisions of Section 24-13-210 of the 1976 Code as amended by Section 1 of this act shall apply retroactively to persons incarcerated on the effective date of this act.

Repeal

Section 3. Sections 24-13-240 and 24-13-250 of the 1976 Code are repealed.

Time effective

Section 4. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.