For families

# The release date

You are the one who can look things up. They cannot. That makes this your job, not theirs.

The math

## Where the number comes from

Three things reduce their time and they stack:

- Good conduct time (days off for staying out of trouble), at 54 days per year of the sentence imposed;
- earned time credits (time off earned through programming) under the First Step Act, at 10 days for every 30 days of successful programming, rising to 15 for every 30 if they are assessed as minimum or low risk on two consecutive assessments;
- and pre-release placement — time served in a halfway house (the halfway house before release) or on home confinement (finishing a sentence at home under monitoring) rather than in the facility.

Earned credits applied toward early release to supervised release (post-prison supervision; not parole) are capped at 365 days. Credits past that cap are not lost; they are supposed to go toward pre-release custody instead.

That last sentence is the reason [the next section](/for-families/guide/the-halfway-house-push) exists.

Run their math yourself: [the time calculator](/resources/time-calculator) and [the PATTERN calculator](/resources/pattern-calculator).

The catch

## The number on the website is not the answer

The inmate locator shows a projected release date. It does not show their halfway house date, which is the date that actually determines when they come home to you, and which can differ by many months.

**Ask them for a copy of their sentence computation and keep it.** Errors happen and nobody audits them.

Keep reading — part 8 of 12

### [The halfway house push](/for-families/guide/the-halfway-house-push)

This is the section that changes outcomes. If you read one part of this guide, read this one.

**Need help with this? Just ask.**

These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. **Answers are free** , and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer.

[josh@federalprisondude.com](mailto:josh@federalprisondude.com?subject=Family%20question)

I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.