Calculator Help and Instructions

Federal or State?

The first choice is the most important one. Select Federal if this is a sentence in a Bureau of Prisons facility. Select State if this is a state DOC sentence, then choose the state from the dropdown that appears.

Why it matters: Federal good time is set by federal law at 54 days per year of sentence imposed under the First Step Act. Every state has its own rate -- ranging from 15% in truth-in-sentencing states to 50% for nonviolent offenses in states like California. Selecting the wrong one will give you a significantly wrong answer.

RDAP -- Federal Sentences Only

This field only appears when you select Federal. RDAP is the Residential Drug Abuse Program -- a 9-month federal treatment program that, under 18 U.S.C. Section 3621(e), can reduce a federal sentence by up to 12 additional months beyond good time credit. It defaults to No.

Change it to Yes only if the inmate is eligible for and intends to complete RDAP. Eligibility requires a documented substance abuse disorder, a nonviolent conviction, and at least 24 months remaining on the sentence at the time of program entry.

Sentence Start Date (Date of Surrender or Commitment)

Enter the date the inmate reported to the facility, was remanded into custody after sentencing, or surrendered to a BOP facility. This is also called the Date of Surrender for federal inmates who self-report.

If surrendering at any time during the day -- even 11:59pm -- the BOP and most state DOCs count it as a full day of credit. Enter the surrender date, not the day after.

If you do not know the surrender date yet, use an estimated future date or today's date. The release date result will shift accordingly but the total days to serve and good time credit will remain accurate.

Time Already Served

If the inmate has already served time that counts toward this sentence -- such as county jail time between arrest and sentencing, time at a transfer facility, or any pretrial detention -- enter it here. The calculator will deduct this from the total time remaining and include it in the good time calculation.

You can enter this as years, months, days or any combination. One year in county jail can be entered as 1 year, 12 months, or 365 days -- the calculator handles all three.

Sentence Length

Enter the total sentence imposed by the judge in years, months and/or days. This is the number on the judgment and commitment order -- not the parole eligibility date or the minimum date.

For sentences expressed as a range -- such as 3 to 5 years -- enter the maximum for the worst-case release date or the minimum for the best case. Parole board decisions on range sentences are not something the calculator can predict.

Calculate and Read Your Results

Click Calculate My Good Time. The calculator will display:

• Total sentence days -- the full sentence converted to days
• Good time credit days -- the estimated days earned through good behavior
• RDAP reduction days -- if selected (federal only)
• Time already served -- if entered, deducted from total
• Days remaining to serve -- after all credits applied
• Projected release date -- calculated from the start date