Commonwealth v. Fetterman

Citations

• 26 Pa. Super. 569
• 1904 Pa. Super. LEXIS 356

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Sentence—Imprisonment—Solitary confinement — Penitentiary — County jail.</p> <p>Under the penal laws of Pennsylvania when the penalty is simple imprisonment, for whatever period, the place of confinement is the county jail. When the penalty is imprisonment at labor, by separate or solitary confinement, and the sentence is for one year or more, the place is either the penitentiary or a suitable county prison; when the sentence is for less than a year, the place is a suitable county prison, or in the absence of such prison, simple imprisonment in the county jail is to be substituted. Thus “ imprisonment ” or “ simple imprisonment ” means confinement in the county jail; “imprisonment at labor, by separate or solitary confinement ” means imprisonment in the penitentiary or a suitable county prison.</p> <p>Where the penalty imposed by a statute for a crime is imprisonment not exceeding three years, the punishment is simple imprisonment and the legal place of confinement is the county jail; it is error to make the sentence in such a case imprisonment in the penitentiary at separate or solitary confinement at labor.</p> <p>Where a person has been wrongfully sentenced to the penitentiary for one year and six months, instead of the county jail, and has served eleven months, the appellate court in reversing the judgment will direct the prisoner to be discharged, inasmuch as imprisonment of eleven months in the penitentiary will be deemed the equivalent of eighteen months in the county jail.</p>