The New Single Sentence Rule

A while ago I wrote this post about the “single sentence rule,” the statutory directive that tells the Division of Adult Correction (DAC) how to administer consecutive sentences. Under G.S. 15A-1354(b), if a defendant is subject to consecutive sentences, the prison system treats him as though he has been committed for a single, aggregate term. The minimum sentence of that aggregate term is the sum of the minimum terms of all the consecutive sentences. The aggregate maximum sentence is the sum of all the individual maximums, reduced as needed to account for the fact that additional time was added onto the maximum sentence for every post-release supervision–eligible felony. That subtraction is necessary because the defendant will serve only one period of post-release supervision upon his or her release from prison. G.S. 15A-1368.2. Under the old (pre–Justice Reinvestment) law, the rule was pretty straightforward because there was only one maximum sentence rule for PRS-eligible felonies: all Class B1 through E felonies had an additional 9 months built into their maximum sentence. Thus, if a defendant was subject to consecutive Class B1 through E felonies, G.S. 15A-1354(b) said the aggregate maximum sentence was the sum of all the individual maximums, less nine months for each of the second and subsequent Class B1 through E felonies. The order in which the sentences were imposed didn’t matter. The defendant was released from prison to post-release supervision 9 months before attaining the adjusted aggregate maximum to serve a single nine-month period of supervised release (or a [...]