When arrested for a crime and held in custody, the days served waiting for trial etc count towards any sentence later given. As inmates within the Department Of Corrections are given the opportunity to earn sentence credits through good behaviour and engaging with programs, it should follow that the sentence credits include the time served prior to sentencing. If this time is considered part of the sentence itself, it makes sense that the conditions imposed during time within DOC also apply to the entire sentence. This is not a guarantee of an earlier release, but further motivation and opportunity for inmates to use their incarceration for rehabilitation and to prove that changes in behaviour have been made prior to release. This house bill will also ensure that sentences and time served are accurately and fairly calculated. For example, conpare two inmates (assuming the same crime/sentence/good behaviour while in DOC) if one inmate spent 24 months awaiting trial and the other spent 10 months, their release dates would differ which does not afford each person fair and equitable treatment. This house would rectify this issue.

Currently, the way sentence credits are applied means individuals who are incarcerated prior to their final sentencing do not receive the same incentives for good behavior and rehabilitative progress as those already in the state system. HB 361 addresses this by ensuring that every day of confinement counts toward a person’s earned credit calculation, provided they meet the behavioral requirements. ​I support this legislation for several key reasons: Promotes Fairness: It ensures that an individual’s ultimate release date is based on the total time they have been incarcerated. Encourages Positive Behavior: By making credits available during the pre-trial and appeal phases, we incentivize individuals to engage in productive behavior and follow facility rules from the moment they enter the system. Reduces Overcrowding: Recognizing time served more accurately helps safely transition individuals back into the community, reducing the fiscal and administrative burden on our local and state correctional facilities. Retroactive Justice: I particularly support the provision to apply these changes retroactively, ensuring that those currently in the system are treated equitably under this updated standard. ​HB 361 is a common-sense step toward a more transparent and just system. I urge you to support this bill when it comes before your committee and on the House floor.

My husband is currently incarcerated serving a four year sentence on a marijuana charge with the handgun. He is a model citizen and should be allowed to at least serve 50% of his time due to mandatory minimum on a marijuana charge with the weapon he is serving his full term and should be home with his family. He is a non-violent criminal and deserves to be able to serve his time honesty with at least parole or probation..

HB 193 (Extending parole eligible/ post fishback/ sentence after June 9, 2000. In these turbulent times, it is crucial that you as Virginia lawmakers make things right. By doing so you will be correcting many wrongs to individuals who have made a mistake and find themselves behind bars which could be anyone of us. I am writing to ask you to Vote Yes for HB 193. Lay people are sometimes not aware of changes, but our judges are informed about any changes in criminal justice and they already know what they have to do, be transparent when giving instructions to the jury about the life of an accused individual. Everyone that is committed to prison is not bad people but just need to be reminded they are human beings and they have a responsibility to society. Once they have shown for years they have come back into their real self and demonstrate fundamental change by having the same routine day in and day out. This request is in accordance with the Fishback v. Commonwealth, 260 Va. 104 (2000) in which the Supreme Court held that a jury should be instructed on the fact that parole has been abolished for a felony committed after January 1995, and can prove the preponderance of the evidence that a jury was not instructed on the fact that parole has been abolished, there are individuals that remain behind bars for the same offense on July 2025. Their annual evaluation says a lot about how an individual has changed or not. Thank you. Lorrene Crowell

I strongly support House Bill 361 because it addresses a basic issue of fairness in Virginia’s sentencing system. People who spend months or even years in jail before being sentenced or while waiting on an appeal are already serving real time. That time is credited toward their sentence, yet under current practice, it often does not earn earned sentence credits, even though the person was confined the entire time. HB 361 recognizes a simple truth: time served is time served, regardless of whether it happens in a jail or a prison. Denying earned sentence credits for jail time unfairly extends incarceration for reasons completely outside an individual’s control. No one should serve longer simply because their case took longer to resolve. This bill does not eliminate accountability or compromise public safety. It ensures equal treatment, accurate sentence calculations, and basic fairness. Passing HB 361 would correct an unjust gap in the law and affirm that Virginia values consistency, transparency, and humane justice.

HB361 We are compelled to draw attention to a critical procedural issue currently impacting the administration of earned credits within our correctional system. It has been observed that the Department of Corrections is initiating the accrual of these vital credits based on an undefined "custody responsibility date." This interpretation of policy leads to individuals being detained for periods exceeding their legally mandated sentences, often by several weeks or even months, consequently undermining the explicit provisions of established law. To rectify this systemic discrepancy and ensure robust adherence to statutory mandates, the expeditious enactment of legislation concerning earned sentencing credits (ESC) for jail time is not merely advisable, but critically essential. This legislative measure is specifically designed to bring the Virginia Department of Corrections practices into unequivocal compliance with the clear language of existing statutes. Its implementation will guarantee that earned credits are accurately applied from the legally stipulated commencement date, thereby preventing any further instances of unlawful over-detention. It is paramount to recognize that this reform represents a fundamental imperative, not a discretionary option. Its passage will enforce the unambiguous intent of the law, fostering a framework of fairness, consistency, and legal accountability in sentence calculations across the entire Commonwealth.

It is time to enact ong overdue reform in our prisons, jails, and courts.