A bill designed to hold inmates accountable for bad prison behavior by rescinding previously awarded earned time was passed on second reading by the Colorado House Thursday.
“The bill will help keep violent offenders off the street,” said Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch.
If inmates commit serious or violent offenses in prison, the proposed law would require the Department of Corrections to rescind all earned time awarded throughout their prison sentence, a penalty that could add months to a prisoner’s incarceration.
The bill would give more discretion to prison authorities about how much earned time to deduct if offenders break lesser prison rules. For minor offenses authorities can’t deduct earned time vested in prior years.
Before the time could be taken from an inmate, a formal administrative review would be held.
Evan Ebel, believed to have killed Nathan Leon and DOC director Tom Clements, racked up 115 days of earned time despite being cited 28 times in eight years for violations including threatening to kill correctional officers, a Denver Post review found.
Ebel was able to keep earned time — or days deducted off his prison sentence — for participation in rehabilitation programs he never completed because he got into fights.
Without Ebel’s earned time, he would have remained behind bars until late May of 2013, two months after the killings, according to DOC records. A court’s clerical error also led to Ebel being released from prison four years early.
The bill will go to the House for a third reading and then to the Senate for consideration.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, kmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kmitchelldp