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Good Behavior

Interview with Stan, Rich and Claudia

JM: Did you get off early based on good behavior?
Stan: I received two days off my sentence for every week I spent in jail without an occurence.
Rich: Yes, I did receive early release on the basis of good behavior. This is called by the system 'good time', and here in this county and the jails in the State of Michigan, it is 5 days off for every thirty days the inmate was served or sentenced to (i.e. 25 days per each actual mount assigned as the sentence by the court).
Claudia: NO! macomb is literaly such an over packed and over worked system that they hardly ever let any women inmates off early. the ratio is lets say for every 200 men released early there may be 1 woman. but its never for "good behavior" only for over crowding. You can send a letter to your judge asking for a early release but you definitely have to have earned it for your judge to consider it. I personaly ahve never been given a time cut even when i was pregnant and its not because I didnt try to work for it or request it. my judge just never responded to my request

JM: What is the most time off you can receive for good behavior?
Stan: ?
Rich: An inmate in a Michigan county jail can receive 5 days off per month sentenced. This is a fixed amount, it cannot be reduced by a number of days or increased by a number of days. Apparently, the Department of Corrections, which operates the penitentiaries and true prisons, and NOT the county jails or detention centers, offers no possibility for good time anymore, and if you have been previously convicted of a felony and sentenced ultimately to a prison term, you receive no basic time credit at all for any amount of time you spent in a county jail or detention facility awaiting trial or awaiting being moved to a prison from the jail after sentencing.
Claudia: you can get a time cut which is like 45 percent cut off your time.

JM: What types of actions do you need to avoid in order to get time off? Did you ever witness somebody losing time off for good behavior?
Stan: Bad behavior
Rich: You cannot commit what are considered by jail policy to be 'major rule violations'. These would be, for instance, receiving too many minor citation or rule violations together in too short a period of time, or any of a number of actually specified major rule violations, such as possession of certain contraband (pornography, narcotics, cigarettes or tobacco), assault and battery, damage to property, etc. I have witnessed many inmates being reprimanded and punished within the jail for violations both minor and major, but what their exact sanctions were is unclear to me. From jailhouse rumor, it seems losing good time as a sanction is rare, even for habitual major rule violators; such a thing is more likely to result by the order of a judge or magistrate at the request of a prosecutor who learns about poor jailhouse behavior in a future court hearing, or if the inmate's rule-violating behavior results in the filing of formal criminal charges (it is common for two fighting inmates to be charged with misdemeanor assault or battery charges from within the jail--interestingly enough, even if the nature of the assaults/batteries would be enough to establish much more serious charges if they were committed on the outside, they are usually only charged as 93 day misdemeanors from within the jail).
Claudia: Yes if you get any kind of rule violations or tickets for misbehavior they send a note over to your judge and your judge can not only take your time cut he granted you but he can also take the good time that ever inmate recieves no matter what. Good time- It is a special five days off for every 30 days served that every inmate recieves in the jail unless they continue to get rule violationg then the judge can take your good time and then your doing what is called Flatt time.

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