The FSA 365-day cap: what happens to credits beyond a year
Only the transfer to supervised release is capped: 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(3) lets applied FSA credits move that transfer up to 12 months earlier, and no further. Credits beyond the cap are not lost — they apply toward prerelease custody (§ 3624(g)(2)): halfway house or home confinement, with no statutory limit on length. A long-sentence, consistently programming person can therefore bank a year off custody plus a year or more of halfway-house/home-confinement time — which is why two people with the same sentence can leave the facility years apart.
Reviewed against 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g) and 28 C.F.R. § 523.44. Last updated .
How does the overflow actually work?
Worked example
120-month sentence, eligible, earning 15 days per 30 throughout
- Statutory release with GCT: ~102 months.
- Credits earned over ~8.5 years at the enhanced rate: well over 1,500 days.
- First 365 days → transfer to supervised release ≈ month 90.
- Remaining applied credits → halfway house / home confinement stretching back many months before that.
- Credits keep accruing during prerelease custody itself, until the transfer to supervised release.
The order matters: BOP applies credits to the supervised-release transfer first (the guaranteed year), then builds the prerelease window behind it, stacked with the Second Chance Act authority. The practical limits on the prerelease side are bed space and Unit Team recommendations, not the statute — the halfway-house explainer covers how placements really get set.
Why does the locator only move by a year?
The public BOP locator shows the release-from-custody date, which the cap holds to 365 days earlier than the GCT date. The months of halfway house or home confinement before it never appear there — families routinely conclude the extra credits 'did nothing' when they actually became prerelease time. The computation sheet and FSA assessment are where the full picture lives.
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The free OutDate calculator applies these rules to a real sentence — Good Conduct Time, First Step Act credits, halfway house and RDAP dates — with every assumption listed next to the answer. No account needed; nothing is stored.
Open the federal release date calculatorFrequently asked questions
Can more than 365 days of FSA credits be applied?
Yes — 365 is the cap only on early transfer to supervised release. Credits beyond it apply to prerelease custody (halfway house or home confinement), which has no statutory cap.
Do credits stop earning once the cap is reached?
No. Earning continues as long as the person participates in assigned programming — including during prerelease custody — and the overflow extends the prerelease window.
Is the 365-day transfer guaranteed?
It requires eligibility, minimum or low risk on the last reassessment, and a supervised-release term in the sentence (nearly universal). For someone meeting those, application of the capped year is mandatory under § 3624(g) — 'shall transfer' language the courts have enforced.
Primary sources
Everything on this page is drawn from the statutes, regulations, and BOP program statements below — read them directly:
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Estimates, not promises
This page describes federal law and Bureau of Prisons policy in general terms for education. It is not legal advice, it doesn't account for the facts of any individual case, and no attorney–client relationship is created by reading it. The BOP makes all final release-date determinations. Have an attorney review anything before you file it. Built by OutDate, the federal release date calculator.