The ACLU of Virginia has sent a letter to the Virginia Department of Corrections asking that it apply last week’s Supreme Court of Virginia ruling and restore earned sentence credits to everyone who is eligible for them—and immediately release from prison those who have served their full sentences.
The state’s high court determined in Garcia Vasquez v. Dotson et al that the VDOC has been unlawfully interpreting 2020 legislation that increases the rate at which individuals serving time for certain felony offenses can earn sentence credits for good behavior.
The VDOC has been withholding earned sentence credits from people incarcerated for inchoate—or attempted—felony offenses.
“In its recent decision … the Supreme Court of Virginia held that convictions for conspiracy to commit murder are eligible for enhanced earned sentence credits,” wrote Eden Heilman, the ACLU of Virginia’s legal director, in the April 24 letter, which was addressed to Chadwick Dotson, VDOC director, and copied to Attorney General Jason Miyares. “The Court rejected the Department’s argument that inchoate offenses are not distinct from completed offenses.”
Potentially hundreds of people have been denied their earned sentence credits, ACLU lawyer Vishal Agraharkar told WVTF last week.
“Pursuant to the decision in Garcia Vasquez, we hereby demand that the Virginia Department of Corrections recalculate the sentences of all eligible individuals in its custody with convictions for inchoate versions of the offenses enumerated in Virginia Code § 53.1-202.3(A,” the ACLU’s letter states.
The organization asked the VDOC to respond by May 1 and to provide “copies of any policy changes, instructions, or guidance that VDOC issues” as a result of the decision.
“Should the Department decline to apply the decision to all similarly situated individuals in VDOC custody, we intend to explore all available remedies, including, but not limited to, additional legal proceedings,” the letter states.
(A Spotsylvania man was released from prison last year following the Court’s decision in Prease v. Clarke, another case argued by the ACLU of Virginia.)
