Understanding How Much Time of a Prison Sentence Must Be Served in Louisiana

This is the question every client asks: “How much time will I have to serve in jail?” The answer is simple, “it depends!”

There are many factors to take into consideration, including:

1. When was the crime committed, and what was the law at the time?
2. What type of law or crime was broken? (crime of violence, sex crime, property crime, etc.)
3. How much credit for time served will apply to your case?
4. Are your sentence(s) consecutive or concurrent?
5. Will you enroll in and complete “intensive incarceration programs” while incarcerated? (such as re-entry, drug rehab, etc.)
6. Where will you serve your time, and do they offer treatment programs?

Regardless, if you ask an attorney before you are sentenced how much time you will have to serve, whatever your attorney tells you is not final. At best, it is a guess. ONLY the Louisiana Department of Corrections can accurately calculate your time. Although you can challenge those calculations,

Hopefully, you have hired someone with many years of experience in handling criminal cases and who has dealt with the Department of Corrections in Louisiana to be able to give you an educated guess on how much time you will serve in jail if you are convicted and sentenced to jail time.

If you properly vet the attorney you hire, they will be able to guide you and explain which of the numerous factors may be relevant for determining how much time you will serve in jail.

Whatever your attorney tells you regarding good time parole calculations is not binding, whether it is correct or not. Nevertheless, it is important to have someone represent you who knows these rules intimately.

The reason why is that oftentimes a client is only concerned about how much time they will serve. Sometimes plea deals can be worked out in creative ways within the rules that allow both the client’s and the prosecutor’s goals to be achieved. Without a good understanding of the Good Time Parole rules, a client’s interests may not be served most effectively.

In Louisiana, There Is No “Truth In Sentencing.”

Most people who have no connection to the criminal justice system in Louisiana assume that if someone is sentenced to serve a jail sentence of a specific length, they must serve the whole sentence.

Those of us who have experience in the criminal system know there are many ways and reasons someone may be eligible to serve less time in jail than they were sentenced to, including:

1. Parole eligibility
2. “Good Time” diminution of sentence
3. Commutation of sentence
4. Clemency
5. Pardon

Most people probably think of “parole board” eligibility when they think of parole. This is what Hollywood has depicted in movies like Shawshank Redemption and others where an inmate goes before three bureaucrats and says that they have learned their lesson and hopefully are released from jail early. However, release through that process is rarely granted in Louisiana and is governed by a different law, La. R.S. § 15:574.4 et. al.

Instead, the most widely used method for being released from jail early in Louisiana is the “good time” diminution of sentence, which is often referred to as “Good Time Parole.”

What Do You Need To Know About Good Time Parole?

Generally, the Good Time Parole system was created by the legislature to “incentivize good behavior” by inmates in jail. The better someone’s behavior, the quicker they will be released from prison.

This has led to a somewhat convoluted and confusing system of calculations that allow early release from jail based on the type of crime the person is serving, their past criminal history, the location at which they serve their sentence, and the treatment programs they complete while incarcerated, among other things.

Furthermore, the Legislature is constantly changing the rules. Luckily, the modern trend has been to grant MORE good time credits. However, there is no guarantee that this trend will continue after many years of criminal justice reform.

Additionally, even when there is a change to grant additional credit, the default law is that changes are NOT retroactive. If the Legislature allows for retroactive application (meaning the new law applies to people sentenced before the law went into effect), they must expressly state that intent in the law.

It is important to know that when released on “Good Time Parole,” it has the same effect as being released on regular parole. See La. R.S. § 15:571.5.

That means you have a parole officer, you may qualify for compliance credits (or “street credits”) while in compliance on parole, and you can be revoked and forced to serve the balance of your sentence if you are not in compliance.

Parole is an alternative to jail. Do not take it lightly or you will end up back behind bars.

What Laws Govern Good Time Parole?

The primary laws that you should look at, or your attorney should be an expert in, are La. C. Cr. P. art. 880 and La. R.S. § 15:571.3.

Louisiana Code Of Criminal Procedure Article 880: Credit For Prior Custody; Limitations.

• A defendant shall receive credit toward service of his sentence for time spent in actual custody before the imposition of sentence.

• A defendant shall receive credit only for time in actual custody and only once during any calendar month when consecutive sentences are imposed.

• No defendant shall receive credit for any time served prior to the commission of the crime.

• A defendant shall not receive credit for time served under home incarceration.
• A defendant shall not receive overlapping jail credit, except in the instance of concurrent sentences and then only for time spent in jail on the instant felony.

What Does La. C. Cr. P. Art. 880 Mean?

Generally, article 880 defines what it means to get “credit for time served.” To have your time calculated and applied to a particular sentence, you must be “in actual custody.” This means that time spent on “home incarceration” or “probation” is not “in custody” and does not count toward your jail sentence.

That said, Chad Ikerd has been successful in specific cases, getting credit for time spent on home incarceration and/or probation applied toward a sentence. This can only be done in rare cases and with the express approval of a judge, but the Department of Corrections has honored such arrangements in the past.

The one restriction that cannot be overcome is receiving credit “for any time served before the commission of the crime.” In other words, you cannot have time spent in jail applied to your case if that credit was earned “before” the new crime was committed. You cannot “bank” time to be used later.

Additionally, the law makes clear that if you are sentenced on two separate charges unless your sentence is a “concurrent” sentence (meaning you serve both sentences at the same time), then your sentences will be served “consecutively.”

You must understand that the “default” position is for sentences for crimes that occurred at different times to be consecutive. If your plea deal is silent, you will be given consecutive sentences.

A good criminal defense attorney knows how to spot this potential problem before you are sentenced to try to work out a deal or make sure the language in a plea is clear. Otherwise, you could serve a lot more time in jail.

Louisiana Revised Statute Title 15, Section 571.3: Diminution Of Sentence For Good Behavior.

La. R.S. § 15:571.3 is the main statute that you must consider when trying to calculate how much good time credit you will receive, and thus, how early you may be released from jail.

It is important to remember that the Legislature can and does change this statute often, so you should always check the most current version of the law prior to being sentenced. The last major changes came in 2017 and 2023.

The language of La. R.S. § 15:571.3 is somewhat complicated for a layperson to understand.

Having taught this to dozens of lawyers over the years, it is hard for most attorneys to understand. I have tried to break down what the current law (2023) says in general below about the amount of jail credit and how you can better understand the law.

Parish Jail Sentences

Most people do not know that a parish jail sentence (typically reserved for misdemeanor offenses) can qualify for a diminution of sentence. The reason is that most Sheriffs do not allow for good time credits to be earned if someone serves a parish jail sentence in their facility.

However, the law does allow a Sheriff to give credits, if they choose. (“The sheriff . . . shall have the sole authority to determine when good time has been earned”).

An example of this is comparing Lafayette Parish to Acadia Parish. Historically, the Lafayette Parish Sheriff has not offered good time credit eligibility. That means, if you are sentenced in Lafayette Parish to a parish jail sentence, you have to serve “day for day” time.

By contrast, the Acadia Parish jail has historically offered good time credits for time served, sometimes up to “2 for 1” time, requiring only 50% of the sentence to be served before being released from jail.

If The Sheriff Allows Good Time Credits, How Much Time Would You Serve On A Parish Jail Sentence?

1. Most Crimes – serve up to 50% of the total sentence
   • The sheriff may grant “up to” 30 additional days of credit for every 30 days served.
   • Thus, if allowed, and your sentence is 60 days at parish jail, you would only have to serve 30 days in jail.
     “The amount of diminution of sentence allowed under this Paragraph shall be at the rate of thirty days for every thirty days in actual custody”
2. 1st Crime of Violence – serve 85% of the total sentence
   • For every 17 days served in parish jail, you would get an extra 3 days credit for a total of “20 days served in jail.”
   • This is the same as saying you have to serve 85% of the total sentence.
   • Note: it is rare to get sentenced to parish jail for a “crime of violence,” but there are some misdemeanor crimes of violence, including Aggravated Assault, La. R.S. § 14:37.

“Except for a prisoner convicted a first time of a crime of violence, as defined in R.S. 14:2(B), who shall earn diminution of sentence at the rate of three days for every seventeen days in actual custody.”

Hard Labor Sentences:

A “hard labor” sentence under Louisiana law does not mean “manual labor”… anymore. Today, it means the sentence will be served in a facility under the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

The bulk of La. R.S. § 15:571.3 deals with hard labor sentences. Below is a brief description of the current law’s time calculations:

Generally, for most offenses, the default is that you would have to serve 35% of the full sentence before being eligible for Good Time Parole release.

Exceptions include people sentenced to their first crime of violence, which requires at least 75% of the full sentence to be served before being eligible for Good Time Parole release.

Recently, in 2023, the Legislature changed the law to increase the amount of time required for someone serving their “fourth or subsequent non-crime of violence.” Instead of the default requiring 35% of the sentence to be served, someone with a long criminal history, even though non-violent, would have to serve up to 66.6% of their sentence before being eligible for Good Time Parole release.

Not everyone qualifies for Good Time Parole. Persons convicted of sex offenses, 2nd crimes of violence, stalking, or those sentenced under the Habitual Offender Law must serve their full sentence unless released through the parole board process.

Can You Lose Or Forfeit “Good Time” Credits?

Yes! There is a specific statute that governs when someone can lose good time credits, or when a “forfeiture of diminution of sentence” is required. See La. R.S. § 15:571.4.

Generally, an inmate “may forfeit all good time and credits” already earned if they “commit a simple escape or aggravated escape . . . from any correctional facility, work-release facility or from the lawful custody of any law enforcement officer . . . .” Additionally, an inmate “may forfeit” up to 180 days of good time earned if they commit a battery on a Corrections Employee or “any police officer, as defined in La. R.S. § 14:34.2.”

It is also important to note that the law requires all good time credit to be forfeited if a person is released on good time parole and their parole is revoked. In other words, if an inmate completes educational programs and earns credits, or earns normal good time credits, and is then released on good time parole but later violates the terms of their parole and is revoked, they “shall forfeit all good time earned or credits . . . .” See La. R.S. § 15:571.4(B)(2).

Courts have explained, “as a consequence of [a defendant] violating the terms of his good time release, he forfeited not only the good time he had accrued for every thirty days he had spent in actual custody, he forfeited the educational good time credits he had accrued as well.” Hampton v. La. Dep’t of Pub. Safety & Corr., 16-0402, p.8 (La. App. 1 Cir. 02/17/17); 213 So. 3d 394, 398–99.

Below is a simplified table showing the current law: (Acts 2023, No. 463, § 1, effective 08/01/23)

As you can see from the above, even when simplified, it can be confusing to figure out how much time you or your loved one will serve in jail. There are numerous factors and it is probable that neither you nor your attorney will know them all until the Department of Corrections does a calculation.

However, it is still very important to hire an attorney early on who understands these rules and can help you make the best decision about your case.

At the Ikerd Law Firm, Chad Ikerd has had many clients who, once these rules were explained, decided not to risk a trial because a better deal could be worked out that significantly reduced the amount of time they would serve in jail. Conversely, sometimes these calculations helped confirm the best option was to fight and win at trial.

confirm that

Call us today for a free consultation about your case. If hired, we will work closely to make sure you or your loved one understand these laws and how they may impact your future, freedom, and family.