35-d-2 How Much Good-time Credit You Can Earn

• Library: A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

35-D-2. How Much Good-Time Credit You Can Earn

In New York State, the amount of good-time credit you can earn depends on the type of sentence you are serving.

(a) Good-Time Credit for Definite Sentences

If you are serving a definite sentence, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is one-third of your sentence. For example, if you are serving a definite sentence of fifteen days, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is five days (one-third of fifteen days). If you are serving consecutive definite sentences (that is, one after the other), you can earn good-time credits equal to one-third of the total length of your combined sentences.³⁸ For example, if you are serving two fifteen-day sentences consecutively, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is ten days (one-third of thirty days).

(b) Good-Time Credit for a Single Determinate or Indeterminate Sentence

If you are serving a single determinate or indeterminate sentence, you can receive good-time credit as long as your maximum term is not life imprisonment.³⁹ If you are serving a determinate sentence, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is one-seventh of your sentence.⁴⁰ For example, if you are serving a determinate sentence of twenty-one years, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is three years (one-seventh of twenty-one years).

If you are serving an indeterminate sentence, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is one-third of your maximum sentence.⁴¹ For example, if you are serving an indeterminate sentence of fifteen to thirty years, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is ten years (one-third of thirty years).

The calculation is more complicated if you are serving more than one sentence, as shown below.

(c) Good-Time Credit for Concurrent Determinate Sentences

If you are serving more than one determinate sentence "concurrently" (at the same time), the maximum good-time credit you can earn is one-seventh of the determinate sentence that ends last.⁴² For example, if you are serving one determinate sentence of seven years and a second determinate sentence of fourteen years, the maximum good-time credit you can earn is two years (one-seventh of the longer fourteen-year sentence). In this example, if you earn the maximum credit of two years, you are entitled to conditional release after serving...