C.F.R. » Title 28 » CHAPTER V—BUREAU OF PRISONS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE › SUBCHAPTER B—INMATE ADMISSION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TRANSFER › PART 523—COMPUTATION OF SENTENCE › Subpart B—Extra Good Time

28 C.F.R. § 523.17

Procedures

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(a) Extra good time is awarded at a rate of three days per month during the first twelve months of seniority in an earning status and at the rate of five days per month thereafter. The first twelve months of seniority need not be based on a continuous period of twelve months. If the beginning or termination date of an extra good time award occurs after the first day of a month, a partial award of days is made.

(b) An inmate may be awarded extra good time even though some or all of the inmate's statutory good time has been forfeited or withheld.

(c) Parole and mandatory release violators may earn extra good time the same as other inmates. Once an inmate is conditionally released from imprisonment, either by parole, including special parole, or mandatory release, the good time earned during that period of imprisonment is of no further effect either to shorten the period of supervision or to shorten the period of imprisonment which the inmate may be required to serve for violation of parole or mandatory release.

(d) Staff working in the community have the same extra good time authority as the Warden when approving the award of good time for an inmate confined in a non-federal facility and may approve meritorious good time or lump sum awards in accordance with this rule upon recommendations made by a responsible person employed by the non-federal facility. The appropriate staff in the Regional Office may review all such awards if the Regional Director requires the review.

(e) An inmate who is transferred remains in the earning status at time of transfer, unless the reason for transfer would otherwise have caused removal from an earning status, and provided the inmate's behavior is such while in transit that it does not justify removal. Where the receiving institution is a camp, farm, or community corrections center, the extra good time continues automatically upon the inmate's arrival. Where the receiving institution is other than a camp, farm, or community corrections center, the extra good time is terminated upon arrival, and staff at the receiving institution shall review each case to determine if the inmate should continue in meritorious good time earning status if not immediately employed in Federal Prison Industries or assigned to a work/study release program. If the inmate then is not continued in meritorious good time earning status, later awards must comply with procedures outlined in § 523.11.

(f) An inmate serving a life sentence may earn extra good time even though there is no mandatory release date from which to deduct the credit since the possibility exists that the sentence may be reduced or commuted to a definite term.

(g) Extra good time is not automatically discontinued while an inmate is hospitalized, on furlough, out of the institution on a writ of habeas corpus, or removed under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers. Extra good time may be terminated or disallowed during such absences if the Warden or the Discipline Hearing Officer finds that the inmate's behavior warrants such action.

(h) Extra good time earned by an inmate in a District of Columbia Department of Corrections facility is treated the same as if earned in a Bureau of Prisons institution, upon transfer to a Bureau institution.

(i) An inmate committed under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 3651 (split sentence) may earn extra good time credits provided the sentence imposed is not under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 5010 (b) or (c) (YCA). All extra good time and seniority earned is carried over to any subsequent probation violator sentence based on the original split sentence.

(j) An inmate committed under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 4205(c) may earn extra good time credits towards the final sentence that may be imposed. Such extra good time credits do not reduce the three months allowed for study. An inmate committed under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 4244, as amended effective October 12, 1984, may earn extra good time credits toward the final sentence that may be imposed. Such extra good time credits do not reduce the provisional sentence. Extra good time may continue during a commitment for examination of hospitalization and treatment under 18 U.S.C. 4245, as amended effective October 12, 1984.

(k) Inmates committed under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 4244, 4246-47, 4252, 5010 (b), (c), (e), or 5037(c) as these sections were in effect prior to October 12, 1984, are not entitled to extra good time deductions. Inmates committed under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 4241, 4242, 4243, or 4246 as these sections were amended effective October 12, 1984, are not entitled to extra good time deductions.

(l) A pretrial detainee may not earn good time while in pretrial status. A pretrial detainee, however, may be recommended for good time credit. This recommendation shall be considered in the event that the pretrial detainee is later sentenced on the crime for which he or she was in pretrial status.

(m) An inmate committed for civil contempt is not entitled to extra good time deductions while serving the civil contempt sentence.

(n) A military or Coast Guard inmate may earn extra good time. Extra good time earned in Federal Prison Industries in a military or Coast Guard installation is treated the same as if earned in Federal Prison Industries in the Bureau of Prisons. Other forms of military or Coast Guard extra good time, such as Army Abatement time, are fully credited, but no seniority is allowed.

(o) American citizens who are serving sentences in foreign countries and who are subsequently returned to this country under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. chapter 306 (Pub. L. 95-144) may have earned work, labor, or program time credits in the foreign country similar to extra good time earned under 18 U.S.C. 4162. Such foreign “extra good time” credits shall be treated as if awarded under § 523.16, Lump Sum Awards, with any future lump sum award consideration in this country calculated on the basis of time served in custody of the Bureau of Prisons. After return to this country an inmate may earn extra good time at the three-day rate and advance to the five-day rate after one year of seniority is accrued. No seniority is accrued for foreign “extra good time” credits.

(p) An inmate in extra good time earning status may not waive or refuse extra good time credits.

(q) Once extra good time is awarded, it becomes vested and may not be forfeited or withheld, or retroactively terminated or disallowed.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 15 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1980–2026 · leading case: Lopez v. Terrell, 654 F.3d 176 (2d Cir. 2011).
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Lopez v. Terrell, 654 F.3d 176 (2d Cir. 2011). · cites it 6× “Construing § 3624(b) in the first instance, therefore, the district court concluded that for purposes of calculating GCT, the phrase "term of imprisonment" in that statute "encompass[ed] all of the time a prisoner serves for the federal offense, whether before or after the…”
Schleining v. Thomas, 642 F.3d 1242 (9th Cir. 2011). · cites it 3× “Under 28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (1); A pretrial detainee may not earn good time while in pretrial status.”
United States of Am., Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. James Payton, AKA James Perkins, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee, 159 F.3d 49 (2d Cir. 1998). “Further, under Bureau of Prisons regulation 28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (l), pretrial detainees may be recommended for good time credit for the time spent in pretrial custody.”
Holt v. Terris, 269 F. Supp. 3d 788 (E.D. Mich. 2017). · cites it 2× “See 28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (n) (“Extra good time earned in Federal Prison Industries in a military or Coast Guard installation is treated the same as if earned in Federal Prison Industries in the Bureau of Prisons.”
Lopez v. Terrell, 697 F. Supp. 2d 549 (S.D.N.Y. 2010). · cites it 3× “28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (¿). The agency deviates from that policy, however, where a prisoner serves pretrial time that is also credited against a related state sentence.”
Moss v. Clark, 698 F. Supp. 640 (E.D. Va. 1988). “28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (a). 9 Meritorious good time credits are awarded to inmates performing work of “an exceptionally meritorious nature or .”
LaMagna v. United States Bureau of Prisons, 494 F. Supp. 189 (D. Conn. 1980). “28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (p), (q). Many federal prisoners do not serve to the mandatory release date because they are paroled by the Parole Commission, some time after the expiration of one-third of the commitment term.”
Resnick v. Adams, 37 F. Supp. 2d 1154 (C.D. Cal. 1999). · cites it 3× “28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (1); United States v. Payton, 159 F.”
David Culp & Paul Miller v. Patrick Keohane, 822 F.2d 641 (6th Cir. 1987). “They also argue that the regulation on which the Bureau relied, 28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (c), which allows forfeiture, is unconstitutional because it has no statutory basis.”
Mansfield v. Beeler, 238 F. App'x 794 (3rd Cir. 2007). “” 28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (g). Rather, the award of Industrial Good Time Credit “may be terminated or disallowed during such absences if the Warden or Disciplinary Hearing Officer finds that the inmate’s behavior warrants such an action.”
Rasco v. Beeler, 732 F. Supp. 75 (N.D. Ill. 1990). · cites it 2× “See 28 C.F.R. § 523.17 (g) (1989). But an inmate is not entitled to meritorious good time solely because he may have received it in the past.”
Rafiq (D. Mass. 2026). · cites it 4× “See 28 C.F.R. § 523.17(1) (“A pretrial detainee may not earn good time while in pretrial status.”
Show all 15 citing cases →
— 28 C.F.R. § 523.17(1) — 1 case
Rafiq (D. Mass. 2026). “See 28 C.F.R. § 523.17(1) (“A pretrial detainee may not earn good time while in pretrial status.”
— 28 C.F.R. § 523.17(c) — 1 case
Hill v. Brewer, 653 F. Supp. 15 (W.D. Wis. 1985).
— 28 C.F.R. § 523.17(q) — 2 cases
Hill v. Brewer, 653 F. Supp. 15 (W.D. Wis. 1985).
John Brett Allen v. Mark A. Henry, Warden United States Bureau of Prisons, 39 F.3d 1186 (9th Cir. 1994).
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