How much time will I serve at the New Mexico Department of Corrections (DOC)?

How much time will I serve at the New Mexico Department of Corrections (DOC)?

An important question people have when they consider taking a plea offer or after they have been sentenced by a judge is how much time they will actually serve on their sentence. This matters because the amount of time that will be served can be very different from the number given to you at sentencing. You and your lawyer will want to think strategically about how to minimize that time to serve.

If you get a sentence where the time to serve is more than one year, that time has to be served at the Department of Corrections (aka DOC). How much actual time will you serve?

The first thing to know is that the sentence will first be modified by the amount of presentence confinement time you have earned. The number of days you have served in custody while waiting to be sentenced by the judge will be directly credited against the sentence. So if you were sentenced to 2 years at DOC, but have spent 6 months in jail pre-trial, you would have 18 months to serve.

Once you arrive at DOC you are eligible to receive good time. You don’t have to do too much to earn good time other than stay out of trouble. And good time will get you either up to 50% or 15% off your sentence. The amount, whether you are getting 50% or 15%, depends on the crime that you are serving time for: is the crime a serious violent offense (SVO) or not? Some crimes like murder, manslaughter, many sex crimes, aggravated battery—those crimes are SVO by law, so for those crimes you will get 4 days taken off your sentence for every 30 you serve while staying out of trouble.

Other crimes like theft, tampering with evidence, fraud, and conspiracy are by law not SVOs. That means for every 30 days you serve, you get 30 days taken off your sentence in addition to the underlying 30 days.

Some crimes will be up to the judge whether it’s SVO or not: they are discretionary SVOs. But as you can see, whether the time being served is SVO or not is a big deal.

You can also earn lump sum awards of good time for completing RDAP (Residential Drug Addiction Program) or getting an educational degree. These lump sums are 2 or 3 months taken straight off your sentence.

You can get a lump sum of good time by completing the Residential Drug Addictions Program (RDAP). The judge that sentences you can impose this program if you ask for it.

Also, if you earn a degree, you get a lump sum for each degree you earn: GED, Associates, Bachelors, Masters. Taking advantage of educational opportunities pays off both for self-improvement but also because it earns a considerable deduction in time on your sentence.

The big exception to earning good time is if you are serving a life sentence. A life sentence, like for first-degree murder, is 30 years of straight time; no good time deductions allowed.

Post Categories