09 LC
35 1371
House
Bill 679
By:
Representative Mitchell of the
88th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 17-10-6.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to punishment for serious violent offenders, so as to provide for good behavior
credit days for good inmate behavior of certain inmates; to provide for related
matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal
conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 17-10-6.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
punishment for serious violent offenders, is amended by inserting a new
subsection to read as follows:
"(e)
State inmates who are serving a sentence for a conviction of an offense other
than a serious violent felony and who are incarcerated in the state penal
system, including state inmates incarcerated in a prison, detention center,
private prison, county correctional facility, jail, or other such detention
facility, shall be eligible to earn good behavior credit days. The supervisor
of such detention facility including the Department of Corrections, warden,
superintendent, jailer, or other lawful custodian shall be authorized to award
up to 90 days of credit towards such inmates' sentence. No more than one day
credit may be awarded for any consecutive 30 day period, and the inmate must
have exhibited good behavior during the entirety of such consecutive 30 day
period in order to earn a good behavior credit day. Good behavior shall include
participation in work, education, and treatment programs to which the inmate is
assigned unless such inmate is prohibited from participation for reasons outside
his or her control. The cumulative total credit for good behavior days may not
exceed 90 days for a single or continuous period of incarceration regardless of
the number of detention facility supervisors the inmate has over his or her
continuous period of incarceration and regardless of the number of convictions
for which the inmate is incarcerated or sentences he or she is serving. An
inmate's sentence shall be recalculated and reduced by the total number of good
behavior credit days earned, and any parole or probation to follow incarceration
shall start upon the recalculated date of release. If an inmate violates any
criminal law while incarcerated, any good behavior credit day earned prior to
such violation shall be
forfeited."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its
becoming law without such approval and shall apply to all inmates incarcerated
on or after such date.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.