(1996)

Dear Mr. Barnes:

You have requested our opinion whether a defendant can be sentenced to a local detention facility for consecutive sentences under the following circumstances: no single sentence exceeds eighteen months, but the total time to be served exceeds eighteen months.

In our opinion, the law does not permit a judge to commit a defendant to a local detention facility for more than eighteen months, even if that period of confinement derives from consecutive sentences, rather than a single sentence.

I

Applicable Statutory Provision

Article 27, § 705(g) of the Maryland Code provides as follows: