§ 12-29-201 - Meritorious good time. - Arkansas Statutes

12-29-201. Meritorious good time.

(a) An inmate may be entitled to meritorious good time reducing his or her transfer eligibility date up to thirty (30) days for each month incarcerated after imposition of sentence in one (1) of the units, facilities, and centers maintained by the Department of Correction or the Department of Community Correction.

(b) An inmate transferred or paroled to the supervision of the Department of Community Correction under 16-93-206 may receive meritorious good time reducing his or her time of transfer or parole supervision up to thirty (30) days for each month he or she is under the supervision of the Department of Community Correction.

(c) Meritorious good time shall be allocated under rules and regulations promulgated by the Board of Corrections and administered by the respective Department of Correction or Department of Community Correction staff subject to the provisions of this subchapter for good discipline, behavior, work practices, job responsibilities, and involvement in rehabilitative activities while in the custody or under the supervision of the Department of Correction or the Department of Community Correction.

(d) Meritorious good time will not be applied to reduce the length of a sentence.

(e) (1) Meritorious good time shall apply to an inmate's transfer eligibility date from the Department of Correction or a community correction facility.

(2) Meritorious good time shall under no circumstances reduce an inmate's time served in prison by more than one-half (1/2) of the percentage required by law for transfer eligibility.

(3) Meritorious good time shall under no circumstances reduce an inmate's confinement in a community correction facility by more than one-half (1/2).

(f) (1) The Department of Correction or the Department of Community Correction shall determine a date on which the inmate who has acquired the maximum amount of meritorious good time necessary is to be administratively transferred to a less restrictive placement or supervision level within the Department of Community Correction.

(2) This date will be determined in accordance with the policies developed by the Arkansas Sentencing Commission within the parameters allowed by law.

(g) (1) Inmates under sentence of death or life imprisonment without parole shall not be eligible for meritorious good time under this subchapter but may be pardoned or have their sentences commuted by the Governor, as provided by law.

(2) Inmates sentenced to life imprisonment shall not receive meritorious good time calculated on their sentences unless the sentence is commuted to a term of years by executive clemency.

(3) Upon commutation, the inmate shall be eligible to receive meritorious good time at the rate established by this subchapter.