In Re Betts

Opinion

McINTYRE, J.

In April 1995, Alan M. Betts was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and ordered to pay a restitution fine of $200 to the victims’ Restitution Fund under Government Code section 13967, subdivision (a). In December 1995, pursuant to Penal Code section 2085.5, subdivisions (a) and (c), the California Department of Corrections (CDC) began to collect Betts’s

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restitution fine by deducting a total of 22 percent from his trust account deposits and/or wages—20 percent for. the fine, and 2 percent for administrative costs.

Betts contends these deductions are improper because he claims Code of Civil Procedure

1

section 704.090 provides that any and all moneys held in trust for or to the credit of an inmate, including wages and money awaiting deposit into a prison trust account, are exempt from the enforcement of money judgments in the amount of $1,000 prior to January 1997 and $300 thereafter.

We disagree because Betts has misinterpreted section 704.090. The statute provides an exemption for funds held

in

an inmate’s trust account or similar account. It does not apply to trust account

deposits

or give an inmate the unfettered right to deposit or “build up” his or her account to the exemption amount.

Discussion

Deductions Made From December 1995 to the End of 1996

The version of section 704.090 that applied when restitution deductions were made from December 1995 to the end of 1996 provided that funds “held in trust for or to the credit of the judgment debtor,

in an inmate’s trust account or similar account

by the state, county, or city, or any agency thereof, are exempt without making a claim in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000).” (Stats. 1982, ch. 1364, § 2, p. 5158, italics added.)