In news from across the pond, Britain is in the process of adopting a new program of good conduct credits as a means to ease prison overcrowding. Prisoners in England and Wales, excluding those serving for the most serious offenses, will be eligible for release after serving one-third of their sentences. The new policy contrasts with the current scheme where on average prisoners serve between 40 and 60 percent of their sentences under an automatic release system. The new policy will tie release to good behavior and is modeled on a program used in Texas, where prisoners can shorten their sentences by behaving well and taking part in rehabilitative activities.¹

Texas is not alone in the United States in offering good conduct credits to prisoners. Reportedly, 42 of 50 states reward those serving time with some form of early release credits.² Prisoners in federal custody are likewise eligible to receive credit of up to 54 days per year based on good behavior.³ 

Michigan has followed a different path, one that began with Proposal B of 1978, a voter initiative to eliminate good time credits for prisoners serving time for 80 serious felonies. Good time credits nevertheless continued to exist for some non-serious felonies, but the legislature discontinued them and moved to a system of disciplinary credits for all new offenses as of 1987.⁴ A little over a decade later, the so-called Truth in Sentencing laws took effect, and by December 15, 2000, there were no early release credits for prisoners serving time for felonies committed on or after that date.⁵ Not much has changed with prisoner credits in Michigan in the past two decades. There have been a number of bills introduced to authorize some form of good behavior credits, but it was not until last year that a set of bills offering productivity credits had a realistic chance of passing the Michigan Legislature. Unfortunately, the bills died in a House committee in December after a favorable Senate vote.⁶ The 2024 election subsequently changed the political balance in the Legislature, and new House Speaker Matt Hall announced in early 2025 that both good-time and productive credits would be off the table for the coming legislative session.⁷ 

Michigan has chosen its own path when it comes to early release credits and only time will tell when that path may change. In the meantime, the state seems to be holding the line when it comes to chemical castration of sex offenders. Michigan outlawed chemical castration in 1984, finding its use as a condition of probation to be unlawful.⁸  Since then, more than a handful of states have gone in the opposite direction, with Oklahoma taking the unusual step of authorizing surgical castration in 2024.⁹ Several European countries reportedly use chemical castration, and Britain is looking to expand its use as well – and looking to move from a voluntary to mandatory program.¹⁰ 

Endnotes

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