In Re Reeves

Penal Code section 2933 1 offers state prisoners who participate in qualifying work, training and educational programs the privilege of earning “worktime credit” (id., subd. (a)) against their sentences. Ordinarily, the maximum rate at which a prisoner may earn worktime credit is 50 percent, or one day’s credit for each day’s participation. 2 Other statutes make worktime credit unavailable, or available only at a reduced rate, to prisoners convicted of designated offenses. (E.g., §§ 2933.1 [violent offenses], 2933.2 [murder].) This case concerns section 2933.1, subdivision (a), 3 which provides that “any person who is convicted of a felony offense listed in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 [i.e., a violent offense] shall accrue no more than 15 percent of worktime credit, as defined in Section 2933.”

The question before us is whether section 2933.1(a) restricts petitioner’s ability to earn worktime credit against a concurrent sentence for a nonviolent offense. Petitioner has completed a five-year term for the violent offense that made the section applicable and is now serving the remainder of a concurrent *769 10-year term for a nonviolent offense. We hold that section…

Dissenting.—Throughout this proceeding, the parties have offered two conflicting constructions of Penal Code section 2933.1, subdivision (a) (hereafter section 2933.1(a)). 1 Petitioner argues that the 15 percent sentence credit limit under that statute applies only to the sentence he received for his conviction of assault with a deadly weapon—which qualifies under section 667.5, subdivision (c)(8), as a violent felony because he inflicted great bodily injury on his victim—and does not apply to the sentence he received for possession of a controlled substance, which does not qualify as a violent felony. The People, on the other hand, argue that the 15 percent credit limit *782 fully applies to both sentences. I agree with the People because, as I demonstrate below, their construction is consistent with the statutory language, the legislative history, and 130 years of California case law interpreting California sentence credit statutes under both determinate and indeterminate sentencing schemes.

The majority rejects both constructions and, conjuring up its own, holds that section 2933.1 (a)’s credit limit applied to the sentence for petitioner’s drug possession conviction only “as…

Penal Code section 2933 [1] offers state prisoners who participate in qualifying work, training and educational programs the privilege of earning "worktime credit" ( id., subd. (a)) against their sentences. Ordinarily, the maximum rate at which a prisoner may earn worktime credit is 50 percent, or one day's credit for each day's participation. [2] Other statutes make worktime credit unavailable, or available only at a reduced rate, to prisoners convicted of designated offenses. (E.g., §§ 2933.1 [violent offenses], 2933.2 [murder].) This case concerns section 2933.1, subdivision (a), [3] which provides that "any person who is convicted of a felony offense listed in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 [i.e., a violent offense] shall accrue no more than 15 percent of worktime credit, as defined in Section 2933." [4]

The question before us is whether section 2933.1(a) restricts petitioner's ability to earn worktime credit against a concurrent sentence for a nonviolent offense. Petitioner has completed a five-year term for the violent offense that made the section applicable and is now serving the remainder of a concurrent 10-year term for a nonviolent offense. We hold that…