The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard SB 175, Sen. Young’s bill establishing uniform terminology for sentence credit time. Sen. Young explained that the bill would not change the law but would clarify terminology by enacting the following definitions:
- “accrued time” would mean “the amount of time that a person is imprisoned or confined”;
- “educational credit” would “mean a reduction in a person’s term of imprisonment or confinement awarded for participation in an educational, vocational, rehabilitative, or other program”;
- “good time credit” would mean “a reduction in a person’s term of imprisonment or confinement awarded for the person’s good behavior while imprisoned or confined”; and
- “credit time” would mean “the sum of a person’s accrued time, good time credit, and educational credit.”
A representative of the Monroe County Probation Department asked if the bill could be amended to clarify that persons would receive “accrued” and “good time credit” for home detention as a condition of pretrial release. The author responded that the bill is intended just to clarify terminology, not to address substantive issues of when sentence credits are earned. The bill passed 10-0.
Read the bill at http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/175.