International Journal on Criminology Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2013 | Page 39

International Journal on Criminology
and those serving a term of imprisonment or criminal detention for either a fixed or life
term.
Defendants are individuals in prison who have not received a final ruling, who are in
pretrial detention. They may be subject to proceedings involving a misdemeanor or a
crime. They may be awaiting a preliminary ruling or have already received an initial
ruling.
If the person is involved in several cases, the status of inmate takes precedence over
the status of defendant. The penal category is determined at a particular moment in time
and may, of course, change during the period of detention; this is a characteristic of stock.
PENAL CATEGORY AT PRISON ENTRY: When entering prison, a person has the
status of defendant or inmate. Inmates are individuals imprisoned after a final ruling,
while defendants, defined in negative terms, are those who have not yet received a final
ruling.
CHRONOLOGICAL PENAL CATEGORY: This concept only has meaning once the
prison term has been completed. Penal status is attributed to the time spent in prison on
the basis of the imprisoned person's penal category, either defendant or inmate. Time
spent in prison is thus broken down into the length of time spent in pre-trial detention and
length of time spent as an inmate. One of these factors of course may be null for any
given time spent in prison. Also, when a person is required to remain in prison over a
period of time for multiple cases, this breakdown necessarily involves making prioritized
choices. Let us look at an example:
- January 1, 2005: Committal to prison of Victor D. under a committal order for rape in
case 1.
- March 1, 2005: Memorial of judgment in case 2. One year imprisonment for petty theft.
Credit towards a reduced sentence of 3 months, with a sentence end date of December 1,
2005.
- December 1, 2005: End of sentence in case 2. Victor D is held in detention due to the
committal order in case 1.
- April 1, 2006: Judgment by the Assize Court in case 1 results in the acquittal and
release of Victor D.
Between March 1 and December 1 (9 months), the status of inmate (in case 2) takes
precedence over that of defendant in case 1. The breakdown of this detention of a year
and three months based on the chronological penal category is the following: detention as
a defendant = 6 months (or 40%), detention as an inmate = 9 months (or 60%).
This concept of chronological penal category should be distinguished from that of
penal category on date t. Let us look at a second example:
- January 1, 2005: Committal to prison of Clara H. under a committal order for robbery
and driving without a license.
- March 1, 2005: Order to send the case to the criminal court.
- June 1, 2005: Judgment by the criminal court. Clara H. is sentenced to 18 months'
imprisonment, of which six months were suspended. Three months' credit for a reduced
sentence. End of sentence: October 1, 2005.
- October 1, 2005: Release from prison; end of sentence.
Here is the breakdown of the 9 months, done a posteriori: time spent as a defendant =
5 months (or 56%); time spent as an inmate = 4 months (or 44%). We know that at the
end of the time spent in prison, Clara H. did not appeal the criminal court's decision.
Thus, a posteriori the conviction became final as of June 1. In reality, Clara H. held the
status of defendant longer. If we ask what her penal category was in the days following
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