Heinous crimes convicts entitled to good conduct time allowance —SC

Persons convicted of heinous crimes are entitled to benefit from the law that shortens the prison terms of inmates through the good conduct time allowance (GCTA), the Supreme Court (SC) said.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, the high court said the Department of Justice "exceeded its power of subordinate legislation" when it excluded persons convicted of heinous crimes from the benefits of Republic Act (RA) No. 10592 or the New GCTA law.

In 2019, the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law expanded its scope when it excluded recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees, and persons deprived of liberty convicted of heinous crimes from earning GCTA credits.  The court said the law itself did not do so.

"In finding the assailed provisions of the 2019 IRR invalid, the En Banc held that when R.A. No. 10592 amended Article 97 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), it used the connecting conjunction “or” to express that (1) “any offender qualified for credit imprisonment under  Article 29 of the RPC,” and in the alternative (2) “any convicted prisoner in any penal institution, rehabilitation, or detention center in any other local jail” may avail of the benefits granted by R.A. No. 10592," the high court said.

It added that the law is clear that "any convicted prisoner is entitled to GCTA as long as the prisoner is in any penal institution, rehabilitation or detention center, or any other local jail."—LDF, GMA Integrated News