A. Any person who is sentenced to a term of confinement in a correctional facility shall have deducted from any such term all time actually spent by the person in a state hospital for examination purposes or treatment prior to trial, in a state or local correctional facility awaiting trial or pending an appeal, or in a juvenile detention facility awaiting trial for an offense for which, upon conviction, such juvenile is sentenced to an adult correctional facility. Such credit for time shall include any time spent in pretrial confinement or detention on separate, dismissed, or nolle prosequi charges that are from the same act as the violation for which the person is convicted and sentenced to a term of confinement. When entering the final order in any such case, the court shall provide that the person so convicted be given credit for the time so spent.
B. If any person is extradited from another state pursuant to an extradition warrant from the Commonwealth or a fugitive warrant issued from the state where such person is detained and such person is subsequently sentenced to a term of confinement in a correctional facility in the Commonwealth for an offense from the same act as the violation for which the extradition warrant or fugitive warrant was authorized, such person shall have deducted from any such term all time actually spent in confinement awaiting extradition from such other state, provided that he was solely held on the extradition warrant or fugitive warrant and not on any other offense that he allegedly committed in such other state.
C. In no case shall a person be allowed credit for time not actually spent in confinement or in detention. In no case is a person on bail to be regarded as in confinement for the purposes of this statute. No such credit shall be given to any person who escapes from a state or local correctional facility or is absent without leave from a juvenile detention facility.
D. Any person sentenced to confinement in a correctional facility, in whose case the final order entered by the court in which he was convicted fails to provide for the credit authorized by this section, shall nevertheless receive credit for the time so spent in a correctional facility. Such allowance of credit shall be in addition to the good conduct allowance provided for in §§ 53.1-116 and 53.1-129, Articles 2 (§ 53.1-192 et seq.) and 3 (§ 53.1-198 et seq.) or the earned sentence credits provided for in Article 4 (§ 53.1-202.2 et seq.).
Code 1950, § 53-208; 1968, c. 105; 1970, c. 648; 1982, c. 636; 1984, c. 313; 1994, 2nd Sp. Sess., cc. 1, 2; 2022, c. 399; 2026, c. 211.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
31
cases (
14 in the last 5 years), 1983–2026 · leading case:
Carroll v. Johnson, 685 S.E.2d 647 (Va. 2009).
Carroll v. Johnson, 685 S.E.2d 647 (Va. 2009).
· cites it 10× “The sentencing order stated: "The defendant shall be given credit for time spent in confinement *649 while awaiting trial pursuant to Code § 53.1-187." [2] The order also stated: "These sentences shall run consecutively with all other sentences.”
Widdifield v. Commonwealth, 600 S.E.2d 159 (Va. Ct. App. 2004).
· cites it 4× “The court appropriately credited Widdifield for the time spent in pre-trial confinement pursuant to Code § 53.1-187. Widdifield served twelve months in the Henrico County jail and was released from custody in January 2002.”
Commonwealth v. Bertini, 68 Va. Cir. 255 (Fairfax Cir. Ct. 2005).
· cites it 14× “She asserts that she has not received the jail credit mandated by Va. Code § 53.1-187, as the time was mistakenly credited to suspended sentences imposed by a judge of the Fairfax County General District Court.”
Wallace v. Jarvis, 726 F. Supp. 2d 642 (W.D. Va. 2010).
· cites it 4× “Here, Wallace argues that he is entitled under Virginia law, Virginia Code § 53.1-187, to credit for the time he spent in pretrial detention on the charges that the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Tazewell County nolle prossed.”
Michael Ryan Bruton v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 755 S.E.2d 485 (Va. Ct. App. 2014).
· cites it 4× “Code § 53.1-187 states, in relevant part, “[a]ny person who is sentenced to a term of confinement in a correctional facility shall have deducted from any such term all time actually spent by the person .”
Troy Lamont Boone v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 728 S.E.2d 517 (Va. Ct. App. 2012).
· cites it 4× “It also noted appellant was to receive credit pursuant to Code § 53.1-187 “for time served,” 2 but it made no mention of and provided no credit for the time already served in the detention and diversion center incarceration programs.”
Craig Carnell Maryland v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Va. Ct. App. 2022).
· cites it 28× “At the sentencing hearing, Maryland asked the trial court, under Code § 53.1-187, to credit the time he had spent on pre-trial bond in the home electronic monitoring program against his sentence.”
Commonwealth v. Carter, 93 Va. Cir. 129 (Fairfax Cir. Ct. 2016).
· cites it 18× “Bellows This case presents a matter of first impression, requiring the interpretation of Virginia Code § 53.1-187, which guarantees that defendants are given jail credit for all time spent in a state or local correctional facility awaiting trial.”
Jamara Claiborne v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Va. Ct. App. 2023).
· cites it 16× “Appealing her criminal sentence, Jamara Claiborne argues that Code § 53.1-187 required the trial court to credit her for time served while on home-electronic monitoring, awaiting trial.”
Quentin J. Riffle, s/k/a Quentin Joshua Riffle v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Va. Ct. App. 2025).
· cites it 15× “” Code § 53.1-187. “Such credit for time shall include any time spent in pretrial confinement or detention on separate, dismissed, or nolle prosequi charges that are from the same act as the violation for which the person is convicted and sentenced to a term of confinement.”
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