PATTERNPrisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs

BOP's recidivism risk instrument, required by 18 U.S.C. § 3632(a). It assigns minimum, low, medium, or high risk from items like age, disciplinary record, and programming, and is rescored at each program review. The level controls how fast FSA credits accrue and whether they can be applied.

Full explainer: What is a PATTERN score?

Free calculator

Run the numbers for your person

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.

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Primary sources

Everything on this page is drawn from the statutes, regulations, and BOP program statements below — read them directly:

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.

PATTERN — Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs meaning in federal prison · OutDate