INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — State prison inmates would be required to serve 85 percent of their sentences under legislation the House approved Monday night.
The provision by Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Howe, was added as an amendment to a bill that would prohibit inmates from receiving early release credits for earning both a GED and a high school diploma while in prison. The amendment was approved 62-32, and the overall bill is now eligible for a vote in the House.
If approved by a Wednesday midnight deadline for bills to clear their house of origin, it would be sent to the Senate.
Under current practice, inmates can get one day of time shaved off their sentence for each day of good behavior. Proponents said some of the state’s most violent felons actually serve less than 50 percent of their sentences by getting other early release credits.
House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said that making inmates serve 85 percent of their sentences would let the public know that Indiana is “serious about putting them (inmates) away.”
Bosma and Stutzman said as the bill moves through the process, they might seek to have the provision apply to only those convicted of serious violent crimes.
Stutzman said he did not have figures on how much the additional prison time would cost the state or how much new prison space would be required.
Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, said proponents of the provision were taking a “leap of faith” on added costs, saying such a law could be expensive.
State News
Provision would require inmates to serve 85 percent of sentence
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