Occasionally a Massachusetts defendant is jailed for one criminal case while warrants remain open in other courts.
In this scenario the incarcerated defendant gets jail credit for only the case he’s detain on. He receives no credit (i.e., he gets “dead time”) for the open cases unless/until he appears before the other courts and has a nominal bail imposed.
This may require the defendant to file a “speedy trial request” (pursuant to Rule 36 of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure) with the clerk’s office for each court where warrants remain open.
Jails usually have a fill-in-the-blanket request form that inmates can use. Any inmate making such a request should ask that his open case be heard by the court within 30 days as required by G.L. c. 276, Sec. 35.