In Re Mikhail

J.Anthony Mikhail, a prisoner at the California State Prison in Los Angeles County, a facility of the Department of Corrections, has petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. He seeks relief from what he claims is an illegal refusal to restore forfeited worktime credits. He contends that in denying his application for restoration of credits, the director made an ex post facto application of new statutory authority, and that the statute and regulations in force when his credits were forfeited entitle him to the restoration he seeks. We conclude that his application for relief must be granted.

Factual and Procedural Summary

After a series of intermediate proceedings we have extracted the facts pertinent to the case, which we summarize here.

Petitioner was convicted of attempted murder with enhancements, resulting in a 12-year commitment to state prison. While there, on December 23, 1993, he possessed a prison-manufactured weapon. That is classified as a serious prison offense (in prison parlance, an “A-l offense,” after Pen. Code, § 2932, subd. (a)(1); see Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, § 3323, subd. (b)(8); all further citations to sections in the 3300 series are to…