How Much “Good Time” do I get in El Paso County, CO

One question I’m frequently asked when dealing with jail or work release, is how much good time do I get? The short answer is, it depends, but I’ll break it down and try to provide a way for you to calculate the amount of time you may actually serve.

First, we need to look at the offense that you’re going to be incarcerated for. If it’s a DUI, how many priors do you have. In Colorado, a first offense requires no mandatory jail (unless the BAC is above a .200, but that’s another post), while a second offense requires a mandatory minimum of 10 days jail or work release, and a third offense requires 60 days of jail or work release. A felony DUI requires 90 days straight jail or 120 days work release. THERE IS NO GOOD TIME CREDITED TOWARD THE MANDATORY MINIMUM TIMES ABOVE. With that said, just because an offense requires a certain amount of jail or work release, that doesn’t mean that will be the offer/sentence. For instance, the standard plea offer in El Paso County for a second offense DUI is 30 days jail or work release. Therefore, if you accept that offer, you will not get good time on the first 10 days of the sentence, but you will get good time credit for any amount of time you’re sentenced to above the mandatory minimum. Therefore, if you accept a 30 day jail sentence on a second offense, you will do 20 days of jail (50% good time credit applied to the 20 days above the mandatory minimum). This rule only applies to DUI and Felony DUI charges.

For all other offenses that involve a jail sentence (misdemeanors and jail as a condition of felony probation), good time reduces a sentence by 50%. So, on a 90 day jail sentence, you’ll do 45 days.

Next, we need to consider whether the sentence is to jail or work release. Jail sentences receive 50% good time credit, however, work release may not. The current policy in El Paso County is that after completion of 75% of the sentence, you may be placed on “non-custodial” status, or GPS monitoring. This is discretionary, not mandatory, however, if you’ve been complying with the sentence, you will likely be placed on non-custodial status, but again, this assumes that you are not sentenced to work release for a DUI or felony DUI.

The above calculations don’t take things like pre-sentence confinement, or receive a direct work release sentence for a felony.

While no one wants to receive jail or work release, hopefully this helps explain how much time you’ll actually do.