Brown

Since 1976, Penal Code section 4019 has offered prisoners in local custody the opportunity to earn “conduct credit” against their sentences for good behavior. Conduct credits encourage prisoners to conform to prison regulations, to refrain from criminal and assaultive conduct, and to participate in work and other rehabilitative activities. (People v. Austin (1981) 30 Cal.3d 155, 163 [ 178 Cal.Rptr. 312 , 636 P.2d 1 ].) For eight months during 2010, a now superseded version of section 4019 that was enacted during a state fiscal emergency temporarily increased the rate at which local prisoners could earn conduct credits. We granted review to decide whether this former statute (hereafter former section 4019) retroactively benefits prisoners who served time in local custody before January 25, 2010, the date on which it became operative. We hold that former section 4019 applied prospectively, meaning that qualified prisoners in local custody first became eligible to earn credit for good behavior at the increased rate beginning on the statute’s operative date. We also hold that the equal protection clauses of the federal and state Constitutions (U.S. Const., 14th Amend.; Cal.…