PRISONERS MAY GET TIME CUT FOR HEROISM

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho, Jan. 5 -- Two inmates could be rewarded with shortened
sentences for jumping into freezing water in an unsuccessful effort to
rescue a motorist.

The inmates, Jeff Adams and Noe Cortez, serving terms at a local work camp
for drug crimes, were working at a landfill on Dec. 29 when a pickup truck
crashed upside down into a canal. Both men jumped into the water. One of the
driver's legs was caught under the dashboard; the inmates pulled him free,
but police officers were unable to revive him.

The two inmates may apply for sentence reductions under a state law that
recognizes inmates who perform "an extraordinary act of heroism." A decision
on any application would be up to the director of the state corrections
department.

Mr. Adams, 36, of Boise, has served nearly three years of a 4- to 10-year
sentence. Mr. Cortez, 47, of McAllen, Tex., has served over six years of a
20-year term and has a tentative parole date in 2003.