Comment

The sheriff is authorized by statute to “grant commutation of time for good conduct, industry, and obedience,” although the deduction may not exceed one day for each day served. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 42.032, § 2. This provision may amount to executive clemency protected from judicial interference by the state constitutional separation-of-powers provision. See In re Bourg, No. 01-08-00618-CV, 2008 WL 3522241, at *3 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Aug. 12, 2008, no pet.) (not designated for publication) (summarizing case law under Code provision).

One case has held that the potential award of good conduct time credit is an improper matter for argument by the state. Blessing v. State, 927 S.W.2d 266, 269 (Tex. App.—El Paso 1996, no pet.) (prosecutor improperly told jury that “the current practice in the Ector County Jail is that for every day you serve on a sentence, you get credit for two days,” and urged them to consider this in assessing sentence).

The Committee recommends that the issue of good conduct time not be addressed in the jury instructions. Separation-of-powers law may require that juries not be invited to consider it. In any case, informing juries sufficiently to permit reasoned application of the power to award good conduct time would be impractical.