Federal prison FAQ # Time and release How much of the sentence you will actually serve, how the halfway house referral works, and which sentence-reduction pitches to hang up on. The math ## What you will actually serve ### How much time will I actually do? If you are earning FSA credits (time off earned through programming), assume about sixty percent of the sentence imposed. That is a planning number, not a promise. [The time calculator](/resources/time-calculator) does it properly with your actual sentence, jail credit, and PATTERN level. ### What's the difference between good time and FSA credits? Good conduct time (days off for staying out of trouble) is for everyone. FSA credits are earned by completing programming and come off the back half of your sentence. They stack. The mechanisms differ in a way that matters. Good time is 54 days a year, taken off the sentence itself, and you keep it unless the DHO (the officer who hears serious write-ups) takes it. First Step Act credits do not shorten the sentence — they move you into prerelease custody sooner, meaning halfway house and home confinement, with up to a year of them applied toward the supervised release date. They also come with a gate that good time does not have: your PATTERN (the risk score affecting your credits) score has to be minimum or low for the credits to be applied at all. [Score yourself here](/resources/pattern-calculator) before you count on them. ### How do I know my real release date? It is on your paperwork. Get your sentence computation from your case manager (the staffer who controls your release date) and keep a copy. ### What if my sentence computation is wrong? It probably is not. Check it anyway, because when it is wrong nobody else is going to find it. Jail credit is where it usually goes sideways. If you sat somewhere before you were designated, confirm every day of it appears. The back end ## Halfway house ### What's the halfway house and how do I get more of it? The halfway house (the halfway house before release) is where you serve the end of your sentence, and getting more of it is the single highest-value thing you can do inside. The short version: the referral is supposed to happen at a program review well before your release date — the Bureau's own window is seventeen to nineteen months out — nothing happens unless someone asks, and the cost of a late referral falls entirely on you. Raise it at your first [team meeting](/going-in/faq/staff#whats-team). What the place is actually like once you get there is in [getting out](/going-in/getting-out/halfway-house-and-home-confinement), and it surprises people. ### Who decides how long I get in the halfway house? Not your case manager, though they make the recommendation. The referral goes up with the warden's signature and placement depends on the facility having space. ### Can I get moved closer to home? Yes. You can also angle toward a particular area by changing your listed release address to one closer to it. ### How do I get to a camp from a low? If you have camp points, no sex offense, and you were designated to a low anyway, the Bureau most likely just wants to see six months of behavior before moving you. Bed space is the other common holdup. Anyone who offers to sell you a camp placement is selling you nothing. [That one has its own page](/resources/facility-placement). Programs and pitches ## RDAP, and the things people sell you ### Can I get RDAP? Is it worth it? You had better have a substance abuse problem documented before you went to prison. That is the gate. It is worth it. RDAP (a drug program that can cut up to a year) is the only program in the system that takes real time off the end — up to a year for eligible inmates with a nonviolent offense — on top of everything else you are earning. [PS 5330.11](/resources/program-statements/5330-11-psychology-treatment-programs-rdap) is the policy. ### What if I don't have a drug history? If you have a real history and it is not documented, get it into the record before sentencing. That is the window, and it closes, because the PSR (the report that follows you the whole sentence) cannot be amended afterward. If you do not have one, you do not qualify. Building a history that does not exist means putting false information into a federal record, and it tends to create a bigger problem than the one it solved. ### What's a 2255? Can I get my sentence reduced? Do not bother, and do not listen to anyone who says they can get it for you. The people selling “case reviews” and motion templates to families are running a known pattern, and [there is a whole page on it](/resources/non-lawyer-legal-work). If you have a real claim, you need a real lawyer, not a packet. ### Can I get compassionate release? Do not bother, and do not listen to anyone who says they can get it for you. It exists, the criteria are narrow, and the process starts with a request to the warden rather than with a payment to a consultant. [PS 5050.50](/resources/program-statements/5050-50-compassionate-release-reduction-in-sentence) is what it actually requires. Next section — part 12 of 16 ### [Medical](/going-in/faq/medical) Sick call, dental, psychology, and medications. Manage your expectations down and your documentation up. For your people ## Hand the rest of this site to your family You will not be able to look things up once you're inside. They can, and this is where: [everything written for the one waiting](/for-families) — a twelve-part guide to mail, visiting, money, and your release date, plus their own FAQ and checklist. Alongside it, a [guide to every facility](/resources/facilities) with [email alerts when visiting stops](/lockdown-alerts/subscribe), the [support group directory](/resources/support-groups), calculators for your release math, and [free answers](/contact) when they have questions. Send them the link before you report, not after they can't reach you. **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=FAQ%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.