No Jail - Alternative Sentencing

Choices to jail in CA include alcohol and drug rehabilitation and sober living environments, electronic watching and house arrest, work release and work furlough, community service, Cal-Trans work, graffiti removal, and many more. There are pros and cons to each, and a knowledgeable California DUI lawyer can help you decide which is best, and make sure that these options are available to you.

Time spent in an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center, or a sober living environment, is explicitly authorized by the Penal Code. It is surprising how few criminal defense lawyers understand the operation of Penal Code Section 2900.5, and that even fewer criminal defense attorneys avail themselves of this section for the benefit of their clients.

CA Penal Code Section 2900.5 authorizes time spent in a rehabilitation office building or sober living to be credited upon a term of imprisonment in all felony and misdemeanor convictions. This is true where both pre-sentence credits and post-sentence credits; this means that alcohol rehabilitation environments or sober living environments are options to pursue while the case is pending, or after sentencing.

Even in cases where mandatory jail time is set, Penal Code Section 2900.5f explicitly allows time spent in alcohol rehabilitation programs to satisfy these mandatory smallest jail terms.

The office building in CA must be "custodial" (which includes rehabilitation facilities, halfway houses, and sober living environments), and that the custody be due to the proceedings about the same conduct for which the defendant has been accused or convicted. Consulting a qualified California criminal defense lawyer with experience in sentencing choices will be able to help you in deciding the proper alternative sentencing option that will be best in the particular case.

Electronic checking or house arrest is another sentencing choice that may be available. Because many of the electronic checking programs now include alcohol testing, courts are increasingly allowing these sentencing alternatives, especially because the jail overcrowding which is epidemic in many counties.

There is typically a cost associated with electronic monitoring or house arrest, and this is usually on a sliding scare based on the defendant’s ability to pay. Just as with other forms of alternative sentencing, must consult with a criminal defense attorney who is knowledgeable in all aspects of different sentencing. Darren Kavinoky is just such a criminal defense attorney, whose practice is entirely devoted to criminal defense matters. Please call upon us for a consultation in CA at no cost or obligation to explore your choices.