Ex Parte Clifton

LORIGAN, J.

Petitioner seeks, upon

habeas corpus,

to be released from imprisonment in the state prison.

In September, 1897, he was convicted in the superior court of Los Angeles County on two separate charges of burglary in the second degree, and as punishment for the first offense was sentenced to imprisonment in Folsom for five years, and on the second was sentenced for a similar term in the same prison, the latter sentence to commence, as provided by section 669 of the Penal Code, at the expiration of the term of imprisonment imposed by the prior sentence. Having actually served (up to the time of filing this petition) a period of six years and eight months, and having earned, as he claims, credits for good behavior under section 20 of the act of 1889 (Stats. 1889, p. 410) to the extent of three years and six months, he insists that he is now entitled to be discharged from imprisonment.

The only point involved in this matter is whether, in computing the credits for good behavior to which petitioner is entitled, the two sentences of five years each are to be taken as constituting a continuous term of ten years, or do they constitute separate, distinct, and independent terms of five years each.

If, for the purpose of computing credits, the two terms con

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stitute a continuous or entire term of ten years, then petitioner is entitled to his discharge, because, under the act, the time he has served, added to the credits he has earned upon the basis of a continuous term, has terminated his period of imprisonment. On the other hand, if, under the act, the terms are to be considered separate and distinct, the petitioner must be remanded, as he has not served sufficient time and earned sufficient credits upon the second term of imprisonment imposed to warrant his discharge.

The solution of this question must be determined from the language of the act itself, read in the light of previous legislation upon this subject. The only previous legislation on the matter, necessary to be particularly considered, is that found in the Statutes of 1867-1868, page 675, which upon the adoption of the codes was substantially carried into the Penal Code as section 1590 thereof, and which provided that in deducting credits for good conduct in favor of a convict they should be deducted from “the entire term of penal servitude to which he has been sentenced.” In