People v. Davis

Opinion

RACANELLI, P. J.

III.

Worktime Credits

*

Defendant was sentenced to 4 years in prison with credit for time served (128 days) and good time/work time (64 days). Defendant now contends he should have been given additional credits under the new worktime credits provided under Penal Code section 2933.

The contention is faulty for several reasons. Penal Code section 2933 establishes a new program of worktime credits for

prison inmates

alone. The obvious purpose of the statutory program is to provide incentives for prisoners to work in one of the new prison industries and thereby to

[255]

develop job skills and work ethics. (Stats. 1982, ch. 1, § 1, p. 1; Pen. Code, §§ 2800, 2801 [Prison Industry Authority created to operate various industrial, agricultural and service enterprises employing prisoners].) Such valid statutory objectives have no relevance to

pretrial detainees.

Defendant’s reliance on

People

v.

Sage

(1980) 26 Cal.3d 498 [165 Cal.Rptr. 280, 611 P.2d 874] [good time credits uniformly available to sentenced prisoners and pretrial detainees on equal protection grounds] is misplaced.

Sage

extended good time credits to pretrial detainee felons as being similarly situated to prison inmates and pretrial detainee misdemeanants receiving such credit by statutory provision. In contrast, the statute here applies

only

to prison inmates. Pretrial detainees are