Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8805 – Good time
(a) Upon a court’s finding pursuant to § 8803(b) or (c) of this title that a prisoner has filed a factually frivolous or malicious action, or upon a court’s finding that the action is legally frivolous and that even a pro se litigant, acting with due diligence, should have found well settled law disposing of issue(s) raised, the court may order the Department of Correction to forfeit the portion of the litigant’s behavior good time credits accumulated from the date the action was received by the court up to and including every month until the action was disposed of by the court. Upon the court’s forwarding of such an order to the Department of Correction setting forth such a finding, the Department shall forfeit the prisoner’s accumulated good time as ordered by the court. To the extent the Department does not have jurisdiction to forfeit accumulated good time for a particular prisoner, the court shall forward the order to the appropriate agency who shall forfeit the prisoners accumulated good time as ordered by the court.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8805
- Factually frivolous: shall mean a claim where the factual allegations of which are baseless, of little or no weight, value or importance, not worthy of serious attention or trivial. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
- Federal court: shall mean any federal court of competent jurisdiction over actions brought by prisoners as that term is defined in paragraph (9) of this section. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Legally frivolous: shall mean a claim based on an indisputably meritless legal theory. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
- Malicious: shall mean a claim designed to vex, injure or harass, or one which is otherwise abusive of the judicial process or which realleges pending or previously litigated claims. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
- Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Prisoner: shall mean any individual subject to the supervision of the Department of Correction, including, but not limited to, those individuals housed in correctional facilities outside of the State. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 8801
- Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
(b) Upon the finding of a federal court that a prisoner has filed a factually frivolous or malicious action as defined by this chapter, or upon a finding that the action is legally frivolous as defined by this chapter and that even a pro se litigant, acting with due diligence, should have found well-settled law disposing of issue(s) raised, the federal court may order the Department of Correction to forfeit the portion of the litigant’s behavior good time credits accumulated from the date the action was received by the federal court up to and including every month until the action was disposed of by the federal court. Upon the federal court’s forwarding of such an order to the Department of Correction setting forth such a finding, the Department shall forfeit the prisoner’s accumulated good time as ordered by the federal court. To the extent the Department does not have jurisdiction to forfeit accumulated good time for a particular prisoner, the federal court shall forward the order to the appropriate agency who shall forfeit the prisoners accumulated good time as ordered by the federal court.