McGinnis v. Royster
Supreme Court of the United States
McGinnis, Commissioner of Correction, et al. v. Royster et al.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
No. 71-718. Argued: December 11, 1972 --- Decided: February 21, 1973
Appellees challenge as violative of equal protection § 230 (3) of the New York Correction Law, which denies certain state prisoners good-time credit toward parole eligibility for the period of their presentence county jail incarceration, whereas those released on bail prior to sentence received under the statute full allowance of good-time credit for the entire period of their prison confinement. A three-judge District Court, viewing the good-time statutory scheme as primarily aimed at fostering prison discipline, upheld appellees' claim on the ground that there is no rational basis for the statutory distinction between jail and non-jail defendants in awarding good-time credit.
Held: Under the New York scheme good-time credit takes into account a prisoner's performance under the system of rehabilitation that is fostered under the state prison system, but not in the county jails, which serve primarily as detention centers. Since the jails have no significant rehabilitation program, a rational basis exists for declining to give good-time credit for the pretrial jail-detention period; and the statute will be sustained even if fostering rehabilitation was not necessarily the primary legislative objective, cf. South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301, 331; Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 486. Pp. 268-277.
332 F.Supp. 973, reversed.
POWELL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN, STEWART, WHITE, BLACKMUN, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. DOUGLAS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which MARSHALL, J., joined, post, p. 277.
Michael Colodner, Assistant Attorney General of New York, argued the cause for appellants. With him on the briefs were Louis J. Lefkowitz, Attorney General, and Samuel A. Hirshowitz, First Assistant Attorney General.
G. Jeffery Sorge argued the cause for appellees pro hac vice. With him on the brief were James J. McDonough and Matthew Muraskin by appointment of the Court, 406 U.S. 955.