Free Tool
Federal Sentence Calculator
Build a calendar-based planning projection for Good Conduct Time, RDAP, First Step Act credits, and Second Chance Act community-placement windows. No account or email address is required, and BOP/DSCC remains the authority for every official date and eligibility decision.
This is a planning projection, not an official BOP determination.
It does not determine eligibility, calculate any official sentence or release date, or promise placement in a residential reentry center, home confinement, RDAP, prerelease custody, or supervised release. The Bureau of Prisons and its Designation and Sentence Computation Center calculate official sentence dates and credits. A unit team answers questions about programming, PATTERN scoring, and placement inside a facility. Qualified counsel answers questions about a judgment, about consecutive and concurrent terms, and about anything with legal consequences. Bed space, local resources, detainers, removal status, offense eligibility, PATTERN scoring, conduct, programming, lost credits, the length of any supervised-release term, and changes in law or BOP policy can move any date on this page. Use these numbers to plan and to ask better questions — never as a promise about your own case.
Answer four questions and this tool returns fourteen projected planning figures — how much good conduct time you might earn, what the First Step Act and RDAP could change, an estimated number of months you might serve in prison, and when custody might transfer out of BOP. Nothing is stored, and no name or email address is required to see your results.
Related reading
Every label above links to one of these. Each article explains the rule behind a projection in plain language and cites the statute, regulation, or BOP policy it comes from.
- Understanding Your Federal Sentence Term and Start DateHow the BOP treats multiple judgments as one aggregate federal term, when that term begins under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a), and why the calculator uses calendar-date arithmetic.
- FSA Eligibility: Who May Earn and Apply Federal Time CreditsWho may earn First Step Act Federal Time Credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4), how PATTERN affects the earning rate, and why qualifying to earn credits is not the same as being able to apply them.
- RDAP Eligibility: Admission, Documentation, and BOP DiscretionWhat 28 C.F.R. § 550.53 requires for RDAP admission, why clinical admission is not the same as § 3621(e) early-release eligibility, and how community treatment fits into the program.
- Good Conduct Time: How It Changes a Projected DateHow the BOP awards up to 54 days of Good Conduct Time a year under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), why twelve months and one day matters, and how the calculator reaches a GCT-adjusted date.
- RDAP Early Release: Understanding the Modeled ReductionWhy the one-year RDAP reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B) is a ceiling rather than a promise, and how the calculator models a smaller, feasibility-checked benefit.
- Earning First Step Act Federal Time Credits Over TimeHow the 10- and 15-day First Step Act earning rates accrue under 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4), when earning begins, and why the calculator accrues credits chronologically instead of front-loading them.
- Applying FSA Credits: Supervised Release vs. Prerelease CustodyHow the BOP decides whether earned First Step Act credits are applied, why up to 365 days may advance transfer to supervised release, and where the remainder goes.
- RRC and Home Confinement: Understanding Community PlacementWhat Second Chance Act prerelease custody and home confinement allow, how First Step Act credits can extend community placement, and why it is still BOP custody.
- Reading Calculator Results: Prison Time, BOP Custody, and Transfer DatesWhat each projection means — estimated months in prison, the community-confinement transition, the transfer out of BOP custody, and the effective BOP term.
- Using Sentence Projections Responsibly: Build a Record for More LibertyHow to treat a sentence projection as a planning scenario rather than a promise, and how to build a documented record that supports discretionary decisions.
How It Works
Understanding the Calculation
Good Conduct Time (GCT)
For qualifying terms longer than one year, this tool estimates up to 54 days per imposed year and prorates a partial year. BOP/DSCC may calculate the official result differently by a day.
RDAP Reduction
The Residential Drug Abuse Program can reduce your sentence by 6 to 12 months depending on your total sentence length. Eligibility is determined by the BOP based on substance abuse history.
First Step Act (FSA) Credits
The calculator awards credits chronologically after completed 30-day earning blocks. It separates credits applied toward supervised release from credits applied toward prerelease custody.
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