259 Conn. 855 | Conn. | 2002
Opinion
The principal issue presented by this certified appeal is whether the petitioner, Martin Hammond, who is serving a twenty-five year prison term for murder and kidnapping,
The commissioner awarded the petitioner 152 days of presentence confinement credit under § 18-98d (a) for the period from January 8, 1986, to June 9, 1986, during which he was confined in a department of correction facility prior to sentencing. The commissioner also awarded the petitioner fifty days of presentence good time credit under § 18-98d (b) on the basis of his good conduct dining the 152 days of presentence confine
In 1996, the petitioner commenced this habeas corpus action, claiming that he is entitled to presentence confinement and presentence good time credit under § 18-98d for the period from August 25, 1985, to January 8, 1986. The habeas court rejected the petitioner’s claim and dismissed his petition, relying on Johnson v. Manson, 196 Conn. 309, 312, 493 A.2d 846 (1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1063, 106 S. Ct. 813, 88 L. Ed. 2d 787 (1986), and Taylor v. Robinson, 196 Conn. 572, 575, 494 A.2d 1195 (1985), appeal dismissed, 475 U.S. 1002, 106 S. Ct. 1172, 89 L. Ed. 2d 291 (1986), in which this court concluded that the habeas petitioners in those cases were not entitled to presentence confinement credit for time spent incarcerated in another state pending extradition to this state. The petitioners in Johnson and Taylor based their claims for presentence credit on General Statutes § 18-98,
On appeal, the Appellate Court affirmed the judgment of the habeas court. Hammond v. Commissioner of Correction, supra, 54 Conn. App. 18. With respect to the petitioner’s claim that he was entitled to presentence credit for the time that he had been incarcerated in Massachusetts while contesting extradition to this state, the Appellate Court agreed with the habeas court that that claim was foreclosed by this court’s reasoning in Johnson and Taylor. Id., 16. With respect to the petitioner’s claim that he was entitled to presentence credit for the period from January 2, 1986, to January 8, 1986, the Appellate Court declined to consider that claim on the ground that it had not been briefed adequately. Id., 16 n.5.
We granted the petitioner’s petition for certification limited to two issues, namely: (1) whether the Appellate Court properly concluded that the petitioner is not entitled to presentence confinement and presentence good time credit under § 18-98d for the time that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts while contesting this state’s efforts to extradite him; and (2) whether the Appellate Court properly rejected the petitioner’s claim that he is entitled to such credit for the period from January 2, 1986, to January 8, 1986, on the ground that the claim had been briefed inadequately. See Hammond v. Commissioner of Correction, 251 Conn. 919, 920, 742 A.2d 358 (1999). We agree with the Appellate Court’s conclusion that the petitioner is not entitled to credit pursuant to § 18-98d for the time that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts. Although we disagree with the Appellate Court’s conclusion that the petitioner failed to brief adequately his claim that he is entitled to credit for the period from January 2, 1986, to January 8, 1986,
I
The petitioner first claims that the Appellate Court improperly determined that he is not entitled to credit pursuant to § 18-98d for the time that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts. The petitioner advances two arguments in support of his claim. First, he argues that such credit is expressly authorized under the language of § 18-98d. Second, he argues that any possible ambiguity in the statutory language must be resolved in the petitioner’s favor because the contrary construction adopted by the Appellate Court renders § 18-98d unconstitutional under the due process and equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution.
Whether § 18-98d authorizes presentence confinement and presentence good time credit for time that a pretrial detainee remains in custody in a sister state while contesting extradition to this state is an issue of statutory construction. “Statutory interpretation is a matter of law over which this court’s review is plenary. ... In construing statutes, [o]ur fundamental objective is to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature. ... In seeking to discern that intent, we look to the words of the statute itself, to the legisla
The petitioner contends, first, that § 18-98d, by its terms, authorizes presentence credit for the period of time dining which a pretrial detainee is incarcerated in an out-of-state facility while challenging this state’s efforts to extradite him. Because the language of § 18-98d is similar to the language of § 18-98; see footnotes 2 and 5 of this opinion; our interpretation of § 18-98 in Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 309, and Taylor v. Robinson, supra, 196 Conn. 572, informs our construction of § 18-98d. We therefore begin our analysis of the petitioner’s claim with a review of those two cases.
In Johnson, we held that, under § 18-98, presentence credit is available only to pretrial detainees who are incarcerated in a facility administered by the commissioner; Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 312, 317-19; or who otherwise are subject to the control of the commissioner. See id., 317-18 and n.9. In rejecting the claim of the petitioner, Samuel Lewis Johnson, that he was entitled to presentence credit for the time that he was incarcerated in a Florida facility while contesting extradition to this state on the charge of escape from custody, we concluded that Johnson’s claim was foreclosed by “the plain, straightforward language of § 18-98 . . . .” Id., 317. We noted, in particular, “that § 18-98 as written has no language about ‘while awaiting extradition,’ but rather clearly specifies ‘while awaiting
We also rejected Johnson’s claim that a literal interpretation of § 18-98 would render it unconstitutional under the equal protection and due process clauses of the federal constitution.
We further stated that, “even if [Johnson] could overcome this equal protection obstacle, the rational basis standard, and not the compelling state interest standard, would be applicable. We perceive no fundamental right requiring that this nonindigent petitioner be credited with his Florida confinement time while awaiting extradition. . . . There is no invidious classification involved. The credit sought by the petitioner under § 18-98, statutorily created, is a matter of legislative grace. . . . While not requiring identical treatment, equal protection does require that a distinction made must have some relevance to the purpose for which the classification is made. . . . [Section] 18-98 satisfies such a test. The classification it makes is between those persons who are confined within the control of the Connecticut correctional system and those who are not. As to the former, the appropriate Connecticut authorities have control over where they are, their availability for such matters as trials, hearings, release, and the like, and from their control emerges their responsibility for them. As to the latter [category of persons], Connecticut has no such control. This legislative classification has a fair and substantial relation to the object of § 18-98; it entitles those who do come within its ambit to receive credit for their Connecticut-controlled confinement ‘while awaiting trial.’ . . . This certainly rationally advances the legitimate state interest of authorizing credit to those so held when the . . . commissioner has determined that a person so confined has ‘conformed to the rules of the institution’ in which [that
Johnson also asserted that construing § 18-98 to deny him presentence credit would violate his due process rights, “first, [because] such a denial operates as an unconstitutional chill to the assertion of his fundamental right to contest extradition by habeas corpus and, second, [because] it unconstitutionally punishes him for doing so by effectively lengthening the subsequent sentence imposed upon him for the crime for which he was being extradited.” Id., 322. Although we acknowledged that, as a general matter, principles of due process prohibit the state from penalizing a person for exercising his or her constitutional rights; see, e.g., United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368, 372, 102 S. Ct. 2485, 73 L. Ed. 2d 74 (1982); Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 363, 98 S. Ct. 663, 54 L. Ed. 2d 604 (1978); we noted that “it is also clear that the . . . constitution does not forbid every government-imposed choice in the criminal process that has the effect of discouraging the exercise of constitutional rights.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 327, quoting Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, 412 U.S. 17, 30, 93 S. Ct. 1977, 36 L. Ed. 2d 714 (1973). After emphasizing that the commissioner did not deny Johnson presentence credit for any improper reason but, rather, because “the requested credit [could not] be given [under] . . . the plain statutory command of § 18-98”; Johnson v. Manson, supra, 325; we rejected Johnson’s due process claim in light of “the narrowness of the permissible inquiry in the habeas corpus hearing in Florida; see Michigan v. Doran, 439 U.S. 282, 289, 99 S. Ct. 530, 58 L. Ed. 2d 521 (1978); Parks v. Bourbeau, 193 Conn. 270, 275, 477 A.2d 636 (1984); the plain command of § 18-98 that no credit can be given to one in [Johnson’s] circumstances, and the absence of any legitimate basis suggesting any interdicted vindic
Justice Shea, joined by Judge Satter,
Furthermore, in Justice Shea’s view, under the majority’s interpretation of § 18-98, the “difference in treatment accorded to those who contest extradition as compared to other prisoners who are incarcerated prior to sentence is a denial of equal protection of the laws that is prohibited by [the fourteenth amendment to the] federal constitution . . . .”
In Taylor v. Robinson, supra, 196 Conn. 572, this court, in a plurality opinion, rejected a claim identical to the one that we had considered just two months
The petitioner claims that this court’s construction of § 18-98 in Johnson and Taylor does not govern our interpretation of § 18-98d. Specifically, the petitioner contends that: (1) linguistic differences between § 18-98d and § 18-98 support his claim that he is entitled to presentence credit under § 18-98d for the period of his incarceration in Massachusetts while contesting extradition to this state; (2) in any event, our construction
The petitioner’s linguistic argument is predicated on the fact that § 18-98d, in contrast to § 18-98, contains no express requirement that the pretrial detainee be incarcerated “while awaiting trial.”
We agree with the petitioner that the absence of the phrase “while awaiting trial” from § 18-98d provides some support for his contention that § 18-98d is distinguishable from § 18-98. As we expressly noted in Johnson, however, “in 1980 the General Assembly enacted ... § 18-98d .... Despite the opportunity to do so,
More importantly, certain language in § 18-98d severely undermines the petitioner’s contention that he is entitled to the presentence credit that he seeks. In particular, General Statutes § 18-98d (a) authorizes presentence credit for those persons “confined to a community correctional center or a correctional institution . . . .” (Emphasis added.) The Massachusetts facility at which the petitioner was incarcerated pending his extradition to this state is neither a “community correctional center” nor a “correctional institution” as those terms are defined under General Statutes § 1-1 (w).
The petitioner’s attempt to distinguish §§ 18-98 and 18-98d is further undermined by the dictates of General Statutes § 18-98d (b), which authorizes an award of presentence good time credit at a rate of ten days per thirty days of presentence confinement “if [the pretrial detainee] obeys the rules of the facility . . . .” Under
The petitioner also claims that our construction of § 18-98 in Johnson and Taylor should not guide our interpretation of § 18-98d because those two cases were wrongly decided. In essence, the petitioner claims that our holdings in Johnson and Taylor reflect a fundamental misperception of the intent of the legislature regarding the availability of presentence credit to a person who, like the petitioner, was arrested in another state pursuant to a warrant issued by this state and was incarcerated in that foreign state while contesting extradition to this state. Whatever merit we might find in the petitioner’s construction of § 18-98 were we writing
Our reaffirmance of the construction of § 18-98 that we adopted in Johnson and Taylor provides strong support for the habeas court’s interpretation of § 18-98d: in the absence of any evidence of contrary legislative intent, we see no reason why the legislature would have denied presentence credit under § 18-98 to a person incarcerated in another state while contesting extradition for an offense committed prior to July 1, 1981, and have granted such credit under § 18-98d to a person incarcerated in another state while contesting extradition for an offense committed on or after July 1, 1981. To conclude otherwise would be to ignore the obvious similarity of purpose of §§ 18-98 and 18-98d. Although it is true that those two provisions are not identical, we will not read the provisions to accomplish different results unless there is something in the pertinent statutory language or history to indicate that the legislature intended such a result. See, e.g., Derwin v. State Employees Retirement Commission, 234 Conn. 411, 420, 661 A.2d 1025 (1995) (because legislature is presumed to have created harmonious and consistent
Finally, the petitioner claims that construing § 18-98d to deny him credit for the time that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts while contesting extradition to this state renders § 18-98d unconstitutional as applied under the equal protection and due process clauses of the federal constitution.
“We conduct our review of this claim mindful that legislative enactments carry with them a strong presumption of constitutionality . . . .” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. McMahon, 257 Conn. 544, 551, 778 A.2d 847 (2001). Consequently, “a party challenging the constitutionality of a validly enacted statute bears the heavy burden of proving the statute unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. We conclude that the petitioner has failed to meet his burden.
The petitioner contends that the denial of presentence credit under § 18-98d for the time that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts while contesting extradition to this state unduly burdens his fundamental right to liberty and impermissibly chills his right to contest extradition by means of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner claims, therefore, that the state
In Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 319-21, we rejected an identical claim, concluding that constitutional principles of equal protection are inapplicable when the person seeking to invoke those protections to obtain presentence credit is physically outside the jurisdiction of this state for the period in question. We do not find this logic persuasive, however, because, as Justice Shea observed in his dissenting opinion, Johnson had been held in Florida solely at this state’s request. Id., 333 (Shea, J., dissenting). In such circumstances, we agree with Justice Shea that any “denial of equal protection . . . occurred while [Johnson] was in this state at the time of sentencing when the time he served in Florida was not credited.” Id., 332 (Shea, J., dissenting); see footnote 13 of this opinion. We also held in Johnson, however, that, even if Johnson’s claim implicated the equal protection clause, he nevertheless could not prevail because the rational basis standard, as opposed to the compelling state interest standard, would be applicable. Johnson v. Manson, supra, 321 n.12. We explained that the “credit sought by [Johnson] under § 18-98, statutorily created, is a matter of legislative grace”; id.; and, therefore, does not give rise to a fundamental right. Id. We concluded that, in such circumstances, the state need only demonstrate a rational basis for treating Johnson differently from those who are entitled to credit under § 18-98. See id., 321-22 n.12. We further determined that “[t]he classification [created by § 18-98] between those persons who are confined within the control of the Connecticut correctional system and those who are not” is a rational one that bears “a fair and substantial relation to the object of § 18-98 . . . .” Id. The petitioner challenges
It is well established that presentence credit is a creature of statute and that, as a general rule, such credit is not constitutionally required.
It is true, as the petitioner contends, that denying him credit for the four months that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts effectively lengthens his sentence by that amount of time.
The petitioner also claims that the denial of presentence credit for the four months that he was incarcerated in a Massachusetts facility implicates yet another fundamental right, namely, his right to challenge his extradition to this state by means of a petition for a writ of habeas coipus. In support of this claim, the petitioner relies on Justice Shea’s assertion in his dis
Although the denial of presentence credit may be characterized as implicating a “liberty interest” in the broadest sense of that term, credit for presentence incarceration is not a fundamental right. Under Justice Shea’s view, however, the denial of such credit effectively would be elevated to a fundamental right simply because the act of challenging the state’s attempt to extradite happens to take the form of a petition for a writ of habeas coipus. We are not persuaded that presentence credit may be bootstrapped in order to elevate its status to that of a fundamental right.
As Justice Shea noted in Johnson, the writ of habeas corpus is constitutionally based. Id., 334-35 (Shea, J., dissenting). Ordinarily, however, a habeas petition is filed following conviction and exhaustion of appellate remedies. Thus, in the vast majority of cases, a habeas petition is the sole remaining means by which a defendant may challenge the legality of his confinement. Under those circumstances, it is true, as Justice Shea noted, that “[i]t must never be forgotten that the writ of habeas coipus is the precious safeguard of personal liberty and there is no higher duty than to maintain it unimpaired.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 334 (Shea, J., dissenting), quoting Bowen v. Johnston, 306 U.S. 19, 26, 59 S. Ct. 442, 83 L. Ed. 2d 455 (1939). In the extradition context, by contrast, a detainee’s
We conclude, therefore, that the equal protection clause does not prohibit the state from denying presentence credit to a pretrial detainee for the time that he or she is incarcerated in another state while contesting extradition to this state provided a rational basis exists for the denial of such credit.
“[E]qual protection is not alicense for courts to judge the wisdom, fairness or logic of legislative choices.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Barton v. Ducci Electrical Contractors, Inc., 248 Conn. 793, 817, 730 A.2d 1149 (1999). Thus, in areas of social and economic policy that neither proceed along suspect lines nor infringe fundamental constitutional rights, “the Equal Protection Clause is satisfied so long as there is a plausible policy reason for the classification, see United States Railroad Retirement [Board] v. Fritz, 449 U.S. 166, 174, 179 [101 S. Ct. 453, 66 L. Ed. 2d 368] (1980), the legislative facts on which the classification is apparently based rationally may have been considered to be true by the governmental decisionmaker, see Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co., 449 U.S. 456, 464 [101 S. Ct. 715, 66 L. Ed. 2d 659] (1981), and the relationship of the classification to its goal is not so attenuated as to render the distinction arbitrary or irrational, see Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 U.S. [432, 446, 105 S. Ct. 3249, 87 L. Ed. 2d 313 (1985)].” Nordlinger v. Hahn, 505 U.S. 1, 11, 112 S. Ct. 2326, 120 L. Ed. 2d
That conclusion finds strong support in Reno v. Koray, 515 U.S. 50, 115 S. Ct. 2021, 132 L. Ed. 2d 46 (1995), a case that was decided a decade after Johnson. In Koray, the court was required to determine whether 18 U.S.C. § 3585 (b), which “provides that a defendant [convicted of a federal offense] generally must ‘be given credit toward the service of a term of imprisonment for any time he has spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences’ Reno v. Koray, supra, 52, quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3585 (b) (1994); applied to a defendant who had been admitted to bail and confined to a community treatment center pending trial. Reno v. Koray, supra, 52. In concluding that such confinement did not constitute “ ‘official detention’ ’’within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 3585 (b); id.; the court explained: “It is . . . true that under the [statutory interpretation adopted by the court] a defendant ‘released’ to a community treatment center could be subject to restraints which do not materially differ from those imposed on a ‘detained’ defendant committed to the custody of the Attorney General, and thence assigned to a treatment center. But this fact does not undercut the remaining distinction that exists between all defendants committed to the custody of the Attorney General on the one hand, and all defendants released on bail on the other. Unlike defendants ‘released’ on bail, defendants who are ‘detained’ or ‘sentenced’ always remain subject to the control of the Bureau [of Prisons (Bureau)]. . . . This is an important distinction, as the identity of the custodian has both legal and
These observations by the court in Koray are equally applicable to the present case. When a detainee is not under the control of Connecticut authorities, he is neither subject to this state’s disciplinary procedures nor subject to reassignment to other facilities under this state’s control. See Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 321-23 n.12. Moreover, he is not subject to the conditions of confinement established by the commissioner. To credit the petitioner’s sentence for the time that he spent in Massachusetts while challenging extradition would “[defeat] the very interest that underlies the no-credit rule: that [this state] fixes the place of imprisonment, not the prisoner.” Beauchamp v. Murphy, supra, 37 F.3d 705; see also Boutwell v. Nagle, supra, 861 F.2d 1532. Accordingly, we conclude that the classification created by § 18-98d passes muster under the equal protection clause because that classification is reasonably related to a legitimate state interest.
Finally, the petitioner claims that the denial of credit under § 18-98d for the time that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts violates his right to substantive due process. Specifically, the petitioner contends that the
The analytical framework for reviewing substantive due process claims is well established. If the petitioner can demonstrate that the denial of credit under § 18-98d implicates a fundamental right, we must apply strict scrutiny to that statutory provision and require the state to show that the denial of presentence credit for the period that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts furthers a compelling state interest. See, e.g., State v. Jason B., 248 Conn. 543, 561, 729 A.2d 760, cert. denied, 528 U.S. 967, 120 S. Ct. 406, 145 L. Ed. 2d 316 (1999). If, however, the petitioner’s claim does not implicate a fundamental right, we review § 18-98d under a rational basis test. E.g., Ramos v. Vernon, supra, 254 Conn. 840. In such circumstances, the state must show only that the law is not arbitrary or capricious, that is, that it bears a reasonable relation to some legitimate state purpose. See, e.g., State v. Matos, 240 Conn. 743, 749-50, 694 A.2d 775 (1997).
Although “ ‘due process’ has never been, and perhaps can never be, precisely defined”; Lassiter v. Dept. of Social Services, 452 U.S. 18, 24, 101 S. Ct. 2153, 68 L. Ed. 2d 640 (1981); “the core of the concept [is] protection against arbitrary [state] action . . . .” Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 845, 118 S. Ct. 1708, 140 L. Ed. 2d 1043 (1998). The guarantee of substantive due process “also provides heightened protection against government interference with certain fundamental rights and liberty interests.” Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 720, 117 S. Ct. 2258, 138 L. Ed. 2d 772 (1997). In particular, the due process clause “protects those fundamental rights and liberties which are, objectively, deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition . . .
Consequently, the state must establish only that a rational basis exists for denying the petitioner credit under § 18-98d for the four months that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts while contesting extradition to this state. We already have concluded that the denial of such credit is rationally related to a legitimate state interest. See Ramos v. Vernon, supra, 254 Conn. 841 (“[e]qual protection rational basis review is for all material purposes . . . indistinguishable from . . . [rational basis review under] due process [clause]”). Accordingly, the petitioner’s substantive due process claim must fail.
We next address the petitioner’s contention that the Appellate Court improperly failed to review the petitioner’s claim seeking credit under § 18-98d for the period from January 2, 1986, to January 8, 1986, that he was in transit to Connecticut and confined at the Bristol police department. The Appellate Court declined to consider the petitioner’s claim because “the petitioner [had] failed to make a separate argument with regard to this claim”; Hammond v. Commissioner of Correction, supra, 54 Conn. App. 16 n.5; thereby abandoning it. Id.
To the extent that this claim was predicated on the same equal protection and due process arguments that the petitioner had raised in support of his claim of entitlement to credit for the time that he was incarcerated in Massachusetts, we agree with the petitioner that his claim was sufficiently briefed. We reject the petitioner’s claim on its merits, however, because, as we indicated in part I of this opinion, § 18-98d, like § 18-98, applies only to pretrial detainees whose confinement is subject to the control of the commissioner, and, further, construing § 18-98d in that manner does not violate constitutional principles of equal protection or due process. Because the petitioner was not within the custody or control of the commissioner either when he was in transit to this state from Massachusetts or when he was confined at the Bristol police department, he is not entitled to presentence credit under § 18-98d for those periods of time.
The judgment of the Appellate Court is affirmed.
MCDONALD, C. J., concurring. I concur.
The petitioner was convicted of the crimes of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a), and kidnapping in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-94 (a). He received a total effective sentence of forty-five years imprisonment, execution suspended after twenty-five years, and five years probation.
General Statutes § 18-98d provides: “(a) Any person who is confined to a community correctional center or a correctional institution for an offense committed on or after July 1,1981, under a mittimus or because such person is unable to obtain bail or is denied bail shall, if subsequently imprisoned, earn a reduction of his sentence equal to the number of days which he spent in such facility from the time he was placed in presentence confinement to the time he began serving the term of imprisonment imposed; provided (1) each day of presentence confinement shall be counted only once for the purpose of reducing all sentences imposed after such presentence confinement; and (2) the provisions of this section shall only apply to a person for whom the existence of a mittimus, an inability to obtain bail or the denial of bail is the sole reason for his presentence confinement, except that if a person is serving a term of imprisonment at the same time he is in presentence confinement on another charge and the conviction for such imprisonment is reversed on appeal, such person shall be entitled, in any sentence subsequently imposed, to a reduction based on such presentence confinement in accordance with the provisions of this section. In the case of a fine each day spent in such confinement prior to sentencing shall be credited against the sentence at the rate of ten dollars.
“(b) In addition to any reduction allowed under subsection (a), if such person obeys the rules of the facility he may receive a good conduct reduction of any portion of a fine not remitted or sentence not suspended at the rate of ten days or one hundred dollars, as 1he case may be, for each thirty days of presentence confinement; provided any day spent in presentence confinement by a person who has more than one information pending against him may not be counted more than once in computing a good conduct reduction under this subsection.
“(c) The Commissioner of Correction shall be responsible for ensuring that each person to whom the provisions of this section apply receives the correct reduction in such person’s sentence; provided in no event shall credit be allowed under subsection (a) in excess of the sentence actually imposed.”
The petitioner claims that he was in transit from Massachusetts to Connecticut from January 2, 1986, until January 6, 1986, during which time he was in the custody of Lieutenant Bruce M. LeBeau of the Connecticut state police. The petitioner further claims that he was incarcerated at the Bristol police department from January 6,1986, until January 8, 1986, when he was transferred to the custody of the commissioner. In support of these factual assertions, the petitioner relies on a transfer report that was admitted into evidence during the habeas proceeding. Upon review of that report, however, we agree with the commissioner that it does not disclose the precise dates on which the petitioner was in LeBeau’s custody or on which he was confined at the Bristol police department. Nevertheless, because those dates are not material to our resolution of the petitioner’s claims, we assume, for purposes of this appeal, that the dates asserted by the petitioner are accurate.
See footnote 1 of this opinion.
General Statutes § 18-98 provides: “Any person who has been denied bail or who has been unable to obtain bail and who is subsequently imprisoned for an offense committed prior to July 1,1981, is entitled to commutation of his sentence by the number of days which he spent in a community correctional center from the time he was denied or was unable to obtain bail to the time he was so imprisoned. The Commissioner of Correction shall, if such person has confonned to the rules of the institution, credit such person with the number of days to which the supervising officer of the correctional center where such person was confined while awaiting trial certifies such person was confined between the denial of bail to him or his inability to obtain bail and his imprisonment.”
The fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution provides in relevant part: “No State shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of tire laws. . .
The petitioner also claims a violation of equal protection under article first, § 20, of the Connecticut constitution. He has failed to explain, however, why he is entitled to any greater protection under the equal protection provisions of the state constitution than he is under the analogous provisions of the federal constitution. For purposes of this appeal, therefore, we treat those provisions as embodying the same level of protection. E.g., Florestal v. Government Employees Ins. Co., 236 Conn. 299, 314 n.8, 673 A.2d 474 (1996).
General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 1-1 (w) defines the term “correctional institutions” for purposes of the General Statutes and includes within its definition “community correctional centers . . . .” The 1985 revision of § 1-1 (w) provides: “ ‘Correctional institutions’ means the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers; the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Enfield; the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Niantic; the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Cheshire; the Community Correctional Centers, Bridgeport; Brooklyn; Haddam; Hartford; Litchfield; New Haven; and Montville and the Connecticut Correctional Camp, Portland. Wherever in the general statutes, the words ‘State Prison,’ appear, they shall be construed to mean the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers; ‘State Prison for Women’ shall be construed to mean the maximum security division of the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Niantic; ‘jails’ or ‘jail’ shall be construed to mean the Community Correctional Centers, Bridgeport; Brooklyn; Haddam; Hartford; Litchfield; New Haven; and Montville and those portions of the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Niantic, used to detain female persons awaiting disposition of pending charges or to confine female persons convicted of, or who plead guilty to, the commission of misdemeanors and who have been sentenced to community correctional centers or any of them, as the case may be; ‘Connecticut Reformatory’ shall be construed to mean the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Cheshire, ‘The Connecticut State Farm for Women’ shall be construed to mean the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Niantic.”
Under 1he New England Interstate Corrections Compact (Compact), to which Connecticut is a party; see General Statutes §§ 18-102 through 18-104; the commissioner may direct that an inmate convicted in Connecticut be confined in a correctional facility within the territory of any other state that is a party to the Compact. See General Statutes § 18-102 (article IV [a] of Compact). Any inmate transferred outside Connecticut “shall at all times
We note that Johnson, like the petitioner in the present case; see footnote 6 of this opinion; also claimed an equal protection violation under article first, § 20, of the Connecticut constitution. Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 319. In Johnson, however, we treated the analogous federal and state equal protection provisions as according the same level of protection, presumably because Johnson had not articulated any reason why, under the circumstances, he was entitled to any greater rights under the state constitution. See id., 320-21; cf. Lash v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 236 Conn. 318, 330 n.16, 673 A.2d 84 (1996).
Judge Satter, then a judge of the Superior Court, was designated to sit on the ease by Chief Justice Peters pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 51-207 (b).
See footnote 8 of this opinion.
Justice Shea identified several other circumstances in which pretrial detainees who could not satisfy the strict language of § 18-98 nevertheless were entitled to credit thereunder: “Prisoners who are transferred by the commissioner pursuant to [General Statutes] § 18-86 from a community correctional center or other correctional facility while [ajwaiting trial to any other institution or facility of the department of correction continue to earn a commutation of their sentences under § 18-98. . . . Defendants who are transferred to mental institutions for the purpose of competency examinations pursuant to General Statutes [Rev. to 1985] § 54-56d are also entitled to this credit. Even those who, like [Johnson], are extradited from another
Justice Shea disagreed with the majority’s conclusion that Johnson’s claim did not implicate constitutional principles of equal protection because Johnson was seeking presentence credit in connection with his incarceration outside the borders of this state. See generally Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 332-34 (Shea,J., dissenting). Justice Shea reasoned that, “[although it may be true that a state’s equal protection obligations ‘can be performed only where its laws operate, that is, within its own jurisdiction’; Missouri ex rel. Caines v. Canada, [supra, 305 U.S. 350]; the denial of equal protection in [Johnson] occurred while [Johnson] was in this state at the time of sentencing when the time he served in Florida was not credited.” Johnson v. Manson, supra, 332 (Shea, J., dissenting).
In support of his contention that § 18-98 should be interpreted to authorize presentence credit for persons incarcerated in another state while contesting extradition to this state, Justice Shea observed that the construction of § 18-98 advanced by the majority “operate[d] principally upon a suspect class composed of those prisoners too indigent to provide bail during the pendency of the extradition proceeding.” Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 329 (Shea, J., dissenting). As Justice Shea acknowledged, however, Johnson was not a member of that purported class because his incarceration during the extradition proceedings resulted from a denial of bail and not from his inability to post bail. Id., 337 (Shea, J., dissenting). There also was nothing in the record of Johnson to establish that Johnson was indigent. Id., 319 n.10. In view of the fact that Johnson had remained in jail in Florida because he was denied bail and not because he was indigent, the majority in Johnson did not have occasion to address the issue of whether its interpretation of § 18-98 might render it unconstitutional as applied to an indigent petitioner who is unable to post bail in the asylum state.
Although the petitioner in the present case urges us to adopt the reasoning of Justice Shea’s dissent, the petitioner has not established that he was indigent when he was arrested and incarcerated in Massachusetts. Furthermore, neither the record of the present case nor the record of the petitioner’s underlying criminal case contains any indication as to whether bail was set or denied in Massachusetts. McCarthy v. Commissioner of Correction, 217 Conn. 568, 580 n.15, 587 A.2d 116 (1991) (this court may take judicial notice of files of Superior Court in same or other cases). Because the petitioner has not demonstrated that his failure to obtain release while contesting extradition was the result of indigency, we, like the majority in Johnson, do not address the constitutionality of denying statutory presentence credit to a prisoner whose indigency makes it impossible for him or her to post bail in the asylum state while challenging extradition.
The petitioner also notes that § 18-98d, unlike § 18-98, contains no language requiring the supervising officer of the correctional center at which the detainee is confined to certify the number of days of the detainee’s confinement. The petitioner, however, has failed to articulate any reason, and we are aware of none, why the absence of that language bears upon the issue of statutory interpretation raised by the petitioner’s claim.
The petitioner further notes that, under § 18-98, which authorizes day-for-day credit for presentence confinement but not good time credit for such confinement, a detainee may not receive presentence credit unless he “has conformed to the rules of the institution [at which he is detained]”; General Statutes § 18-98; whereas, under § 18-98d, only presentence good time credit is conditioned upon a detainee’s adherence to the rules of the institution. See General Statutes § 18-98d (b). Again, however, the petitioner has not explained why this distinction supports his claim, and we do not see how it does so.
Moreover, the petitioner was not otherwise under the control of the commissioner while he was incarcerated in Massachusetts. See Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 317-18 and n.9.
We note that the commissioner has statutory authority to transfer inmates to out-of-state facilities. E.g., General Statutes §§ 18-87, 18-102 and 18-106. As the court in Johnson suggested, any pretrial detainee who has been transferred to an out-of-state facility is entitled to presentence credit for the time that he or she was confined in that facility pending trial. See Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 317-18 and n.9 (transfer under § 18-102). The court in Johnson reasoned that the commissioner’s use of this statutory authority did not undermine the court’s reliance on the plain language of § 18-98 in ascertaining the meaning of that statutory section. See id. We agree with this reasoning, which is equally applicable to our construction of § 18-98d.
Of course, pretrial detainees who have been transferred by the commissioner to an out-of-state facility do receive presentence credit for the time that they are incarcerated outside this state under the commissioner’s transfer authority. Before deciding to exercise his authority to transfer a pretrial detainee to a particular out-of-state institution, however, the commissioner has the opportunity to gather information concerning, inter alia, the rules and regulations of the out-of-state institution, the enforcement of those rules and regulations, and the extent to which the institution is prepared to apprise the commissioner of the detainee’s compliance with institutional rules and regulations. No similar opportunity is available to the commissioner when, as in the present case, the pretrial detainee is incarcerated in an out-of-state facility simply because he was arrested in another state on a fugitive warrant issued by this state.
Established principles of stare decisis also militate against the petitioner’s claim. As we frequently have stated, “[t]he doctrine of stare decisis counsels that a court should not overrule its earlier decisions unless the most cogent reasons and inescapable logic require it. . . . Stare decisis is justified because it allows for predictability in the ordering of conduct, it promotes the necessary perception that the law is relatively unchanging, it saves resources and it promotes judicial efficiency. . . . It is the most important application of a theory of decisionmaking consistency in our legal culture and it is an obvious manifestation of the notion that decisionmaking consistency itself has normative value.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) George v. Ericson, 250 Conn. 312, 318, 736 A.2d 889 (1999). Furthermore, “[i]n assessing the force of stare decisis, our case law has emphasized that we should be especially cautious about overturning a case that concerns statutory construction.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Ferrigno v. Cromwell Development Associates, 244 Conn. 189, 202, 708 A.2d 1371 (1998).
See also footnote 6 of this opinion.
In support of his claim, the petitioner notes that four of the seven panel members who comprised the two different, five member panels of this court in Johnson and Taylor expressed the view that construing § 18-98 to deny presentence credit to the petitioners in those cases rendered § 18-98 unconstitutional. See Taylor v. Robinson, supra, 196 Conn. 577 (Peters, C. J., with whom, Santaniello, J., joined, concurring) (agreeing with Justice Shea’s dissenting opinion in Johnson)-, Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 328 (Shea, J., with whom, Satter, J., joined, dissenting). Although neither of the petitioners prevailed in Johnson and Taylor, it is true that a collective majority of the panel members assigned to those two cases, namely, Chief Justice Peters, Justices Shea and Santaniello, and Judge Satter, were persuaded by the merits of the claims raised by the two petitioners in those cases. We agree with the petitioner that the views expressed by the various panel members in Johnson and Taylor militate in favor of a careful review of the constitutional issues addressed by this court in those two cases and raised by the petitioner in the present case.
Thus, “[t]o implicate the equal protection [clause] ... it is necessary that the state statute [or statutory scheme] in question, either on its face or in practice, treat persons standing in the same relation to it differently. . . . [Consequently], the analytical predicate [of consideration of an equal protection claim] is a determination of who are the persons similarly situated.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) City Recycling, Inc. v. State, 257 Conn. 429, 448, 778 A.2d 77 (2001). In the present case, the petitioner describes the similarly situated persons as those pretrial detainees like the petitioner, who are incarcerated in another state on Connecticut charges while contesting extradition to this state, on the one hand, and those pretrial detainees who are incarcerated in this state while awaiting trial, on the other hand. We assume, without deciding, that these two groups are similarly situated for equal protection purposes.
Courts have held that the equal protection clause entitles a defendant to presentence confinement credit if the defendant is held for a bailable offense, is unable to make bail as a result of his indigency and receives the statutory maximum sentence for that offense. See, e.g., Palmer v. Dugger, 833 F.2d 253, 255-56 (11th Cir. 1987); Hook v. Arizona, 496 F.2d 1172, 1173-74 (9th Cir. 1974). The rule of these cases is predicated upon the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Williams v. Illinois, 399 U.S. 235, 240-41, 244, 90 S. Ct. 2018, 26 L. Ed. 2d 586 (1970), that, the equal protection clause prohibits a state from incarcerating a person for longer than the statutory maximum prison term on the basis of his or her inability to pay a fine because of indigency. See Palmer v. Dugger, supra, 256; Hook v. Arizona, supra, 1173-74. Although Justice Shea, in his dissenting opinion in Johnson, relied principally on this line of cases in urging a construction of § 18-98 that authorizes presentence credit for the period of time during which an indigent pretrial detainee is incarcerated in another state while contesting extradition to this state; see Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 338-39 (Shea, J., dissenting); the holdings of those cases were not directly applicable to Johnson’s claim because Johnson was denied bail in the asylum state. Id., 319 n.10. The petitioner in the present case likewise has failed to establish that bond was set and that he failed to post it as a result of indigency. Consequently, the petitioner, like Johnson, cannot avail himself of the rule set forth in the foregoing cases that is predicated on the holding in Williams.
Several other courts have held that an indigent defendant is constitutionally entitled to presentence credit if he was unable to post bond even though he did not receive the maximum sentence. See, e.g., Faye v. Gray, 541 F.2d 665, 668-69 (7th Cir. 1976); King v. Wyrick, 516 F.2d 321, 323, 325 (8th Cir. 1975). We note, however, that Justice Shea did not articulate this view in his dissent in Johnson, and the petitioner himself has raised no such claim in the present case. Indeed, this line of cases provides no support for the petitioner’s equal protection claim because he has failed to establish that he was unable to post bail as a result of indigency. See footnote 14 of this opinion.
Of course, in circumstances in which a detainee has no constitutional or statutory entitlement to credit for a period of pretrial incarceration, as in the present case, the sentencing judge nevertheless has the inherent discretionary authority, in fashioning an appropriate sentence, to credit the detainee with any such period of pretrial incarceration. There is nothing in the record of the present case, however, to indicate whether the trial court considered that four month period at sentencing. We assume, for purposes of this appeal, that the trial court, did not consider that four month period. Cf. Johnson v. Prast, 548 F.2d 699, 703 (7th Cir. 1977) (unless state established that sentencing judge had given credit to defendant for period that defendant was incarcerated prior to trial, calculation of defendant’s sentence must include credit for such incarceration). But cf. Parker v. Estelle, 498 F.2d 625, 627 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 963, 95 S. Ct. 1951, 44 L. Ed. 2d 250 (1975) (in cases “in which the sentence imposed plus time spent in pre-sentence custody totals less than the maximum for the offense, there is a conclusive presumption that the sentencing judge gave [the defendant] credit for the pre-sentence custody”).
In his dissent in Johnson, Justice Shea relied on Laden v. Warden, 169 Conn. 540, 363 A.2d 1063 (1975), to support his contention that denying Johnson credit under § 18-98 violated the equal protection clause. See Johnson v. Manson, supra, 196 Conn. 339 (Shea, J., dissenting). In Laden, this court held that the equal protection clause prohibited the state from denying statutory presentence confinement credit to an indigent defendant who had failed to conform to the rules of the institution. See Laden v. Warden, supra, 540, 549. Because our conclusion in Laden apparently was predicated on the petitioner’s indigency; see id., 543-4; our holding therein does not bear on our resolution of the issues presented by this appeal.
Of course, if a pretrial detainee who is incarcerated in the asylum state is successful in defeating extradition, he will be released from custody in that state. His release under those circumstances, however, is merely a necessary consequence of his successful extradition challenge, which, as we have explained, is the essential purpose of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the extradition context.
General Statutes § 54-166 provides in relevant part: “No person arrested upon [an arrest] warrant shall be delivered over to the agent whom the executive authority demanding him has appointed to receive him unless he is first taken forthwith before a judge of any court having criminal jurisdiction in this state, who shall inform him of the demand made for his surrender and of the crime with which he is charged, and that he has the right to demand and procure legal counsel; and if the prisoner or his counsel states that he or they desire to test the legality of his arrest, the judge of such court shall fix a reasonable time to be allowed him within which to apply for a writ of habeas corpus. . . .”
As we have indicated, this general rule is subject to one or more exceptions. See footnote 23 of this opinion. No such exception, however, is applicable under the facts and circumstances of the present case.
We note that the United States Supreme Court recently has reiterated its “reluctan[ce] to expand the concept of substantive due process because guideposts for responsible decisionmaking in this uncharted area are scarce and open-ended.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Washington v. Glucksberg, supra, 521 U.S. 720, quoting Collins v. Harker Heights, 503 U.S. 115, 125, 112 S. Ct. 1061, 117 L. Ed. 2d 261 (1992).
The petitioner does not contend that presentence confinement itself gives rise to a fundamental right or liberty interest such that the state may not deny credit for such confinement in the absence of a compelling justification. See Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing, 474 U.S. 214, 229, 106 S. Ct. 507, 88 L. Ed. 2d 523 (1985) (Powell, J., concurring) (substantive due process rights, unlike procedural due process rights, are created only by constitution); accord Nicholas v. Pennsylvania State University, 227 F.3d 133, 140 (3d Cir. 2000); Charles v. Baesler, 910 F.2d 1349, 1354 (6th Cir. 1990).
We noted in Taylor that fairness may require an award of presentence credit if extradition has been delayed unnecessarily due to “the failure of Connecticut authorities to return the extraditee when he is available to be returned to Connecticut.” Taylor v. Robinson, supra, 196 Conn. 577. The petitioner, however, raises no such claim on appeal.
This is one of those cases where “because of various legitimate factors, decisions of this court have not been rendered until many months after their oral argument, sometimes not until the following court year.” Doyle v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Ins. Co., 252 Conn. 912, 914B, 914G, 746 A.2d 1257 (1999). Because, as appears at the beginning of this opinion, I participated in this case after reaching mandatory retirement age, it should be noted I concurred in the opinion within fourteen days. See id.