dead time noun time served in jail which does not count towards fulfillment of the prisoner’s sentence US
It ain’t dead time no more like it used to be. Now they give a man all the time he spends in the county jail. — Donald Goines, WhiteMan’s Justice,BlackMan’sGrief, p. 32, 1973
Under California law, such time is dead time. — Malcolm Braley, False Starts, p. 237, 1976