Michigan ex rel. Oakland County Prosecutor v. Department of Corrections, Docket No. 158838

• Decision Date: 26 May 1993
• Docket Number: Docket No. 158838
• Citation: 199 Mich.App. 681,503 N.W.2d 465
• Parties: MICHIGAN ex rel. OAKLAND COUNTY PROSECUTOR, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellee, v. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, and John Jabe, Warden, State Prison of Southern Michigan, Defendant-Appellants, and Harold Clayton Anderson, Defendant-Cross-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 465

503 N.W.2d 465 199 Mich.App. 681 MICHIGAN ex rel. OAKLAND COUNTY PROSECUTOR,
Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellee,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, and John Jabe, Warden, State
Prison of Southern Michigan, Defendant-Appellants,
and
Harold Clayton Anderson, Defendant-Cross-Appellant. Docket No. 158838. Court of Appeals of Michigan. Submitted May 4, 1993, at Lansing.
Decided May 26, 1993, at 9:00 a.m.
Released for Publication July 30, 1993.

Page 466

[199 Mich.App. 683] Richard Thompson, Pros. Atty., Michael J. Modelski, Chief, Appellate Div., and Richard H. Browne, Asst. Pros. Atty., Pontiac, for plaintiff.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Thomas L. Casey, Sol. Gen., and Chester S. Sugierski, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for Dept. of Corrections and Warden John Jabe.

Daniel E. Manville, P.C. by Daniel E. Manville, Detroit, for Harold Anderson.

Before WAHLS, P.J., and SHEPHERD and MARK J. CAVANAGH, JJ.

SHEPHERD, Judge.

Defendants Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) and Warden John Jabe appeal as of right a December 1, 1992, order granting plaintiff's motion for a declaratory judgment and a writ of mandamus. On March 24, 1993, this Court granted defendant Harold Anderson's application for delayed cross appeal of the same lower court order. In an order dated March 30, 1993, the Michigan Supreme Court granted defendants' motion for immediate consideration, but denied their application for leave to appeal before the decision of the Court of Appeals, instructing this Court to expedite its consideration of this matter and to issue a decision no later than June 1, 1993. We reverse.

I

This case involves the method of calculating [199 Mich.App. 684] regular good-time and special good-time credits under the provisions of M.C.L. § 800.33; M.S.A. § 28.1403. Following a bench trial, Anderson was convicted of assault with intent to commit murder for an offense that occurred in April 1979. On December 11, 1979, he was sentenced to life in prison. On appeal, Anderson's conviction was affirmed, but the case was remanded for resentencing. 112 Mich.App. 640, 317 N.W.2d 205 (1981). On remand, he was resentenced to ten to thirty years in prison.

While Anderson was in prison, he earned all the regular good-time and special good-time credits possible under the formula used by the DOC. As a result, Anderson was discharged from prison on August 12, 1992, after having served thirteen years and four months of his maximum sentence of thirty years.

On September 3, 1992, plaintiff filed a claim of appeal from the discharge of Anderson, a petition for a preliminary injunction, a complaint for a declaratory judgment and mandamus, an ex parte petition for a temporary restraining order, and a request for an order to show cause. Plaintiff argued that the DOC violated M.C.L. § 800.33(2) and (12); M.S.A. § 28.1403(2) and (12) by granting good-time and special good-time credits for time not yet served rather than only for time actually served.

After a show cause hearing on September 4, 1992, the trial court issued an order dated September 11, 1992, rescinding Anderson's discharge and ordering his arrest. The trial court also preliminarily declared unlawful and void the DOC's method of calculating regular good-time and special good-time credits, preliminarily determined that the DOC had the clear legal duty under M.C.L. § 800.33(2) and (12); M.S.A. § 28.1403(2) and (12) to compute such time on the basis of time actually served by a prisoner, and further prohibited the [199 Mich.App. 685] DOC from releasing prisoners on the basis of calculations made pursuant to its previous method of calculating good-time

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credits. At the same time, the trial court took plaintiff's petition for a declaratory judgment and a writ of mandamus under advisement.

Subsequently, Anderson was arrested and returned to the State Prison of Southern Michigan in Jackson. When Anderson filed a motion for a writ of habeas corpus and a stay of the order rescinding his discharge, primarily because venue allegedly did not properly lie in Oakland County, the trial court entered an order dated September 24, 1992, transferring the matter to the Jackson Circuit Court because Anderson was then detained at the State Prison of Southern Michigan at Jackson.

In an order dated October 8, 1992, this Court reversed the trial court's order transferring the action to the Jackson Circuit Court and reinstated the action in the Oakland Circuit Court on the ground that Oakland County was the proper venue for Anderson's complaint for habeas corpus when he filed it. This Court further ordered that the trial court expeditiously decide plaintiff's appeal and Anderson's third-party action and motions. In the same order, this Court denied Anderson's motion for a stay of the order rescinding his discharge.

On December 1, 1992, the trial court entered an order granting plaintiff's motion for a declaratory judgment and a writ of mandamus, holding that the DOC's method of calculating regular good-time and special good-time credits was illegal and ordering the department to use the "time earned approach" set forth by plaintiff. On April 8, 1993, this Court, on its own motion, granted a...