What is a Good Incentive?
On June 7, 2010, the United States Supreme Court decided 6-3 in the case Barbar v Thomas. The court, after reviewing code (18 U.S.C. 3624(b)) sided with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and agreed that their method of computing “good time” allowances was lawful. The case about what “time factor” to base the calculation of “good time” upon either “time served” or “time sentenced.”
In summation, it means the difference between federal prisoners earning 54 v 47 days per year, a mere 13%, deducted from their sentences. An example, based on a ten year (120 months/3650 days) sentence, a prisoner would have earned 540 days “good time” now that same prisoner earns only 470 days. To every federal prisoner, their families and friends an addtional 70 days is a significant amount of time.
No other correctional system in the United States burdens its prisoners with this amount of time without incentive or ability to earn days toward early release. The result, over incarceration of thousands of federal prisoners with substantial amounts of time at the expense of taxpayers. The court’s majority decision delivered disallusionment in place of justice.
Diane Schindelwig 36582-177
MCC
150 Park Row
New York, NY 10007
