The issue presented in this habeas corpus proceeding is whether the petitioner, Samuel Lewis Johnson, must be credited under General Statutes § 18-981 for the 109 days he spent in a Florida jail while resisting extradition to Connecticut for trial on the charge of escape from custody, a violation of General Statutes § 53a-171.2 The trial court granted the writ holding that § 18-98 authorized the 109 days credit “for time served in an out of state correctional institution while awaiting extradition to Connecticut, provided the Connecticut charge is the only reason the prisoner is being held .”3 This appeal by the respondent commissioner of correction (commissioner) followed.
On March 22,1980, he was returned to Connecticut, formally arrested on the charge of escape from custody and held in lieu of bond for prosecution of that charge.
On this appeal, the respondent commissioner claims that: (1) the trial court erred in concluding that § 18-98 entitled the petitioner to a credit on his Connecticut sentence for the time that he was incarcerated in Florida awaiting extradition to Connecticut; and (2) even though § 18-98 does not, by its terms, require the time credit sought, the denial of such credit to the plaintiff does not deny, contrary to the petitioner’s claims, his right to equal protection of the laws; U.S. Const., amend. XIV; Conn. Const., art. I § 20;4 or due process of law. U.S. Const., amend. XIV; Conn. Const., art. I § 8.5
We turn first to the claim involving the statutory construction of § 18-98. We agree with the commissioner that the trial court erred in concluding that § 18-98 authorized credit for 109 days on his Connecticut criminal sentence.
Section 18-98 provides that “[a]ny person who has been denied bail or who has been unable to obtain bail and who is subsequently imprisoned for an offense
The commissioner argues that while the statute authorizes him to credit the criminal sentence of one imprisoned “awaiting trial” and sentencing, it does not in any way authorize or require him to extend the same credit to one “awaiting extradition.” “Awaiting trial” or “awaiting sentence” is, he claims, just not the same under § 18-98 as “awaiting extradition.” Additionally, he differs with the trial court’s (and the petitioner’s) posture that the statute is ambiguous as to whether its “community correctional center” language applies to a person confined outside Connecticut without bail who is awaiting extradition; the commissioner contends that this language clearly relates to intrastate and not interstate procedures.6 Opining, without conceding, that even if the trial court may have construed § 18-98 as it did because it was seeking to avoid constitutional
Our decision in Houston v. Warden, 169 Conn. 247, 363 A.2d 121 (1975), in which we also construed § 18-98, is instructive on the issue of statutory construction: “The language of the statute is clear and unambiguous. Courts cannot, by construction, read into statutes provisions which are not clearly stated. Robinson v. Guman, 163 Conn. 439, 444, 311 A.2d 57 [1972]; United Aircraft Corporation v. Fusari, 163 Conn. 401, 415, 311 A.2d 65 [1972]. Tt is not for us to search out some intent which we may believe the legislature actually had and give effect to it, but we are confined to the intention which is expressed in the words it has used.’ Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Walsh, 134 Conn. 295, 301, 57 A.2d 128 [1948].
“ It is a cardinal rule of construction that statutes are to be construed so that they carry out the intent of the legislature. This intent is. to be ascertained from the language of the statute itself, if the language is plain and unambiguous. Hurlburt v. Lemelin, 155 Conn. 68, 73, 230 A.2d 36 [1967]; Landry v. Personnel Appeal Board, 138 Conn. 445, 447, 86 A.2d 70 [1952]. Where the legislative intent is clear there is no room for statutory construction. Little v. Ives, 158 Conn. 452, 455, 262 A.2d 174 [1969]; State ex rel. Cooley v. Kegley, 143
“A legislative intention not expressed in some appropriate manner has no legal existence.”7 (Citations omitted.) State v. Smith, 194 Conn. 213, 222, 479 A.2d 814 (1984). We point out that § 18-98 as written has no language about “while awaiting extradition,” but rather clearly specifies “while awaiting trial.” It is obvious that the “awaiting trial” criterion is critical in determining credits for those so entitled. Where statutory language is clearly expressed, as here, courts must apply the legislative enactment according to the plain terms and “cannot read into the terms of a statute something which manifestly is not there in order to reach what the court thinks would be a just result.” Rosnick v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 172 Conn. 416, 422, 374 A.2d 1076 (1977), quoting State v. Malm, 143 Conn. 462, 467, 123 A.2d 276 (1956).8
The claim that the “community correctional center” language imports ambiguity into § 18-98 lacks merit. The petitioner there asserts that § 18-98 generates absurd results when applied to his confinement in Florida. It is hardly absurd to interpret the plain, straightforward language of § 18-98 to mean what it patently expresses. Moreover, the petitioner has pointed to nothing that demonstrates that the legislature intended to extend to fugitives from Connecticut justice awaiting extradition the credit he now seeks. Cognizant as we are that “[i]t is not for this court to impose obligations not intended by the legislature”; Doe v. Institute of Living, Inc., 175 Conn. 49, 65, 392 A.2d 491 (1978); we are also aware that no word in a statute should be treated as insignificant or superfluous. Kulis v. Moll, 172 Conn. 104, 111, 374 A.2d 133 (1976). A “community correctional center” is a “correctional institution”; General Statutes § 1-1 (w); and encompasses institutions situated in Connecticut rather than those outside Connecticut in which one awaiting extradition is confined.9 It goes without saying that under
This determination of error requires that we examine the constitutional issues of the denial of equal protection and due process raised by the petitioner. His basic equal protection claim is that the denial of the credit for the Florida confinement, where “he was imprisoned pursuant to a Connecticut charge of escape from custody,” effectively lengthens the “lawfully imposed sentence” he received for the same offense in Connecticut; this deprives him, he contends, of his right to equal protection of the law under the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, § 20, of the Connecticut constitution.10 We do not agree.
The equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment provides that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.”
It is, therefore, clear that the petitioner was not within the jurisdiction of Connecticut when confined in Florida awaiting extradition. The legal authority to arrest him under a warrant issued in Connecticut stopped at our state line. Actually, he was not formally arrested by Connecticut authorities until he was
The constitutional analysis of the due process claims should recognize that “[t]he paramount interests underlying the extradition process are matters of federal, rather than merely local, concern .... ‘The scheme
There is no question but that the petitioner was timely informed of this right in Florida and that he elected not to waive extradition and instead chose to apply for the writ. Florida Stat. Annot. § 941.26 (West 1973); see General Statutes § 54-181. Given these circumstances, the issue emerges whether the failure to credit his later Connecticut sentence operates to violate his due process rights by chilling unconstitutionally the assertion of the right to contest extradition or, alternatively, by punishing the petitioner for doing so. We think not.
As a general proposition, rights guaranteed by federal or state constitutions may be waived. Singer v. United States, 380 U.S. 24, 34, 85 S. Ct. 783, 13 L. Ed. 2d 630 (1965); Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S. Ct. 1019, 82 L. Ed. 1461 (1938); State v. Shockley, 188 Conn. 697, 706, 453 A.2d 441 (1982); see 28 Am. Jur. 2d, Estoppel and Waiver § 163 (1966). The same observation applies to statutory rights. See McClain v. Manson, 183 Conn. 418, 439 A.2d 430 (1981); 28 Am. Jur. 2d, supra, § 164. Significantly, the Connecticut extradition statute, as well as the Uniform Extradition Act, expressly provides that a person who can be extradited may waive extradition proceedings in the asylum state. See General Statutes § 54-181 and Uniform Criminal Extradition Act § 25-A.
Furthermore, the petitioner chose to resist extradition.15 Recognizing that while there is a governmen
“Due process of law is not a rigid or static expression. It is a concept of what is fundamentally just, fair
There is error, the judgment is vacated and the case is remanded with direction to dismiss the petitioner’s writ.
In this opinion Parskey and Dannehy, Js., concurred.
1.
General Statutes § 18-98, entitled “Confinement where bail unobtainable: Presentence confinement credit prior to July 1,1981,” provides: “Any person who has been denied bail or who has been unable to obtain bail and who is subsequently imprisoned for an offense committed prior to July 1, 1981, is entitled to commutation of his sentence by the number of days which he spent in a community correctional center from the time he was denied or was unable to obtain bail to the time he was so imprisoned. The commissioner of correction shall, if such person has conformed to the rules of the institution, credit such person with the number of days to which the supervising officer of the correctional center where such person was confined while awaiting trial certifies such person was confined between the denial of bail to him or his inability to obtain bail and his imprisonment.”
2.
General Statutes § 53a-171, entitled “Escape from custody: Classification,” provides: “(a) A person is guilty of escape from custody if he escapes from custody.
“(b) If a person has been arrested for, charged with or convicted of a felony, escape from such custody is a class C felony, otherwise, escape from custody is a class A misdemeanor.”
3.
The trial court denied that portion of the petitioner’s claim that sought an additional credit of thirty-six days of statutory good time under General Statutes § 18-98c. That portion of the relief sought is not involved in
4.
The fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution provides in part: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Article first, § 20, of the Connecticut constitution provides in part: “No person shall be denied the equal protection of the law . . . .”
5.
Article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution provides in part: “No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law . . . . ”
6.
The trial court’s decision does not refer at all to General Statutes § 18-86 which is entitled “Transfers between institutions of department fof correction]” and which provides: “The commissioner may transfer any inmate of any of the institutions or facilities of the department to any other such institution or facility, irrespective of the institution to which the inmate was originally committed or the length of his sentence, when it appears to the commissioner that the best interests of the inmate or the other inmates will be served by such action.”
7.
We have not been directed to, nor does our research disclose, that § 18-98 was intended to apply to persons confined outside Connecticut contesting extradition.
It is worth noting that while Connecticut adopted the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act in 1957; Public Acts 1957, No. 362; § 18-98, including its “while awaiting trial” language, was not enacted until 1967. Public Acts 1967, No. 869.
8.
It is argued by the petitioner that a 1976 administrative “directive” of the respondent “expressly contemplates the occurrence of the situation presented in this case.” We are not persuaded by this claim. The relevant part of the “directive” states: “Time served in another state while held under a Connecticut warrant will count as jailtime credit when the individual is being held on Connecticut charges only. ” Administrative Direc
9.
Some suggestion is made that the respondent commissioner has in practice broadened the definition of “community correctional center,” thereby enhancing the petitioner’s claim.
First, it seems to be suggested that because the commissioner extends credits under § 18-98 to those who may be confined in Connecticut in an institution that is not a “community correctional center,” this fuels the petitioner’s claim for § 18-98 credit on his Florida confinement. This lacks merit. A “community correctional center” is a Connecticut “correctional institution”; General Statutes § 1-1 (w); and under General Statutes § 18-86, the respondent “may transfer any inmate of any of the institutions or facilities of the [correction] department to any other such institution or facility . . . .’’(Emphasis added.) This use of statutory authority available to the respondent, as well as the application of common sense to the statutory
Second, the New England Interstate Corrections Compact, General Statutes § 18-102 et seq., of which Connecticut is a member, is advanced as demonstrating a broad view of “community correctional center” which avails the petitioner. The argument is that permitting one confined in a “community correctional center” in this state to be transferred and confined in a penal or correctional facility outside Connecticut in another signatory state makes ambiguous language in § 18-98, an ambiguity which should be resolved in the petitioner’s favor. This falls short of the mark. The Compact in § 18-102 is not only sui generis but replete with clear legislative enunciation of the protection of specific rights of any “inmate” transferred thereunder.
Significantly, any “inmate” transferred outside Connecticut “shall at all times be subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state [Connecticut] and may at any time be removed therefrom for transfer to a prison or other institution within the sending state . . . (Emphasis added.) Section 18-102, Art. IV (c). The fact that an inmate is confined in a receiving state “shall not deprive any inmate so confined of any legal rights which [he] would have had if confined in an appropriate institution of the sending state.” Section 18-102, Art. IV (e). Thus, the control under the Compact over the inmate outside Connecticut is completely distinguishable from the “control” Connecticut had over the petitioner while confined in Florida. In addition, the unique arrangement of Connecticut prisoners confined elsewhere has the plain mandated intent of our legislature, and assuming, without deciding, a prisoner’s “legal rights” under Article IV (e) would include his right to have credits given him, in an appropriate case, under § 18-98. In any event, we note that recently the United States Supreme Court has said: “Just as an inmate has no justifiable expectation that he will be incarcerated in any particular prison within a state, he has no justifiable expectation that he will be incarcerated in any particular state.” (Footnote omitted.) Olim v. Wakinekona, 461 U.S. 238, 245, 103 S. Ct. 1741, 75 L. Ed. 2d 813 (1983). The “broad statement of purpose” in Article I of § 18-102 “in no way limits the discretion of the commissioner of correction to transfer a prisoner to facilities in a member state. It therefore does not ‘create the kind of substantive interest which is required before a state created “liberty” interest can be said to exist.’ Lombardo v. Meachum, 548 F.2d 13, 15 (1st Cir. 1977).” Sisbarro v. Warden, 592 F.2d 1, 3-4 (1st Cir. 1979).
10.
There is no determination in the record before us that the petitioner was determined to be an indigent. Therefore, not being a member of that class, he cannot claim any constitutional deprivation for that reason. In fact, he concedes that he was confined because the Florida trial court denied him bail, not because he was indigent and therefore unable to post it.
11.
This claim includes the assertion that the petitioner is entitled to equal protection because of the “agency relationship” that is created once Connecticut, the initiator of legal proceedings against him, makes its demand upon Florida. He maintains such a relationship exists “as a matter of law.” To support this in this extradition proceeding he cites Narel v. Liburdi, 185 Conn. 562, 570, 441 A.2d 177 (1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 928, 102 S. Ct. 1974, 72 L. Ed. 2d 443 (1982). He misconstrues Narel, which was an Interstate Detainer Agreement case. A close examination of Narel discloses that when speaking to the duty of custodians to comply with the procedural requirements of the detainer (IAD) agreement, we said: “In this regard, custodial officials in the asylum and the charging states are viewed as agents for each other.” (Emphasis added.) Narel v. Liburdi, supra, 572. In a later case, we said that “officials of the custodial state act as agents of the demanding state for purposes of the IAD [Interstate Agreement on Detainers].” State v. Braswell, 194 Conn. 297, 305, 481 A.2d 413 (1984).
12.
In any event, even if he could overcome this equal protection obstacle, the rational basis standard, and not the compelling state interest standard, would be applicable. We perceive no fundamental right requiring that this nonindigent petitioner be credited with his Florida confinement time while awaiting extradition. See Pernell v. Rose, 486 F.2d 301 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 985, 94 S. Ct. 1581, 39 L. Ed. 2d 882 (1974); State v. Abbott, 617 S.W.2d 172 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1981). There is no invidious classification involved. The credit sought by the petitioner under § 18-98, statutorily created, is a matter of legislative grace. Equal protection of the laws means “that no person or class of persons shall be denied the same protection of
We also note that the United States Supreme Court has held that a state statute that provides for an enhanced penalty if the perpetrator left the state did not violate the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. See Jones v. Helms, 452 U.S. 412, 101 S. Ct. 2434, 69 L. Ed. 2d 118 (1981). There the court stated that “[d]espite the fundamental nature of this right [to travel], there nonetheless are situations in which a State may prevent a citizen from leaving. Most obvious is the case in which a person has been convicted of a crime within a State. He may be detained within that State, and returned to it if he is found in another State. Indeed, even before trial or conviction, probable cause may justify an arrest and subsequent temporary detention. Similarly, a person who commits a crime in a State and leaves the State before arrest or conviction may be extradited following ‘a summary and mandatory executive proceeding.’ [Michigan v. Doran, 439 U.S. 282, 288, 99 S. Ct. 530, 58 L. Ed. 2d 521 (1978).] . . . We are aware of nothing in our prior cases or in the language of the Federal Constitution that suggests that a person who has committed an offense punishable by imprisonment has an unqualified federal right to leave the jurisdiction prior to arrest or conviction.” Jones v. Helms, supra, 419-20.
13.
In United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368, 102 S. Ct. 2485, 73 L. Ed. 2d 74 (1982), the United States Supreme Court held that the fact that the defendant was charged with a felony after refusing to plead to misdemeanor charges did not warrant a presumption of prosecutorial vindictiveness in violation of due process.
14.
We note that in 1980 the General Assembly enacted what is now General Statutes § 18-98d in which it authorized credits, under that statute, for “[a]ny person who is confined to a community correctional center or a correctional institution, for an offense committed on or after July 1,1981 . . . . ” Despite the opportunity to do so, the legislature did not at that time include any language that suggested it was to be applied to a person confined outside Connecticut who was contesting extradition to this state.
15.
Both the federal and Connecticut constitutions provide that the “privilege[s] of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the Public Safety may require it.” U.S. Const., art. I § 9, cl. 2; Conn. Const., art. I § 12. The “no suspension” clauses prohibit only those governmental acts during non-emergency times that “suspend” the writ, “that is, the right to the writ, the privilege of having it issued, and the case heard and determined, shall not be suspended.” Macready v. Wilcox, 33 Conn. 321, 329 (1866); see Wangsness v. McAlpine, 46 S.D. 75, 190 N.W. 883 (1922). Obviously, such was not the case here, although reasonable restrictions on the application for relief under a writ have been upheld. See, e.g., United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 72 S. Ct. 263, 96 L. Ed. 232 (1952); Grego v. Sheriff, 94 Nev. 48, 574 P.2d 275 (1978). In any event, one should not misconstrue the focus of the issue in this context. The problem is not one involving any suspension of the availability of an application for a writ of habeas corpus but rather whether the legislative enactment, § 18-98, provides for the credit the petitioner seeks.