Literacy Program

By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

Program Statement 5356.01 at a glance

Field	Value
Program Statement	5356.01
Subject	Literacy Program
Effective / current edition date	June 22, 2026
Change notice	None. This is a brand-new edition, issued in the Bureau’s June 22, 2026 reissue and approved by Director William K. Marshall III
Supersedes / rescinds	5350.28, Literacy Program (GED Standard) (12/1/2003)
Governing statute	18 U.S.C. § 3624(b) (good conduct time); the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which tie good conduct time to literacy progress
Governing regulation (28 C.F.R.)	28 C.F.R. part 544, subpart H — “Literacy Program,” §§ 544.70 through 544.75 (6 sections). The good-conduct-time consequence is at 28 C.F.R. § 523.20(d)
Related BP forms	BP-A0812, Request for Education Records (the form used to obtain proof of a diploma the institution cannot verify — request it from a staff member); BP-A0148, Inmate Request to Staff
Official PDF	PS 5356.01, Literacy Program

Checked against the BOP policy set · 2026-09-06.

If your loved one does not have a verified high school diploma or GED, the Bureau of Prisons will require them to attend an adult literacy program for at least 240 instructional hours — and for people sentenced under two specific 1990s statutes, staying in that program is tied to how many days of good conduct time they earn each year. This is one of the very few prison programs where declining has a direct arithmetic effect on a release date.

The page that covers the classroom side — what the GED test looks like now, what studying inside is actually like, and how a family can help — is GED and high school diploma programs in federal prison. This page covers the rule: who must enroll, who is excused, what 240 hours means, and what happens if someone stops.

The rule itself: the 240-hour requirement, the exemptions, and the consequences

The whole of subpart H runs to six short sections, and PS 5356.01 reproduces them with implementing instruction interleaved. The core obligation is one sentence.

“Except as provided for in § 544.71, an inmate confined in a federal institution who does not have a verified General Educational Development (GED) credential or high school diploma is required to attend an adult literacy program for a minimum of 240 instructional hours or until a GED is achieved, whichever occurs first.”

Source: 28 C.F.R. § 544.70, reproduced at PS 5356.01 at p. 2.

Who does not have to attend

Exception	Text of the rule	Notes from PS 5356.01
§ 544.71(a)(1)	“Pretrial inmates”	A “direct policy exemption.” May still volunteer, resources permitting
§ 544.71(a)(2)	“Inmates committed for the purpose of study and observation under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 4205(c), 4241(d), or, effective November 1, 1987, 18 U.S.C. 3552(b)”	A “direct policy exemption.” May still volunteer
§ 544.71(a)(3)	“Sentenced deportable aliens”	Applies to those with a Public Safety Factor “H” status of “Alien,” or under a final order of deportation, exclusion or removal legally enforceable by ICE. A “direct policy exemption.” If a deportation hearing ends in a non-deportable determination, the 240-hour requirement attaches
§ 544.71(a)(4)	“Inmates determined by staff to be temporarily unable to participate in the literacy program due to special circumstances beyond their control (e.g., due to a medical condition, transfer on writ, on a waiting list for initial placement). Such inmates, however, shall be required to participate when the special circumstances are no longer applicable”	Health Services or Psychology Services may send the Supervisor of Education a recommendation for a temporary class exception stating its duration
§ 544.71(b)	“Inmates who have been determined (on the basis of formal diagnostic assessment) to have a documented emotional, mental, or physical individual impediment to learning shall not be required to complete the literacy program beyond those achievement levels indicated as realistic by the formal diagnostic assessment”	Requires Warden approval on three documents: pre- and post-test scores showing no academic gain in reading, math or written language; documentation of satisfactory effort; and documentation that the person will no longer benefit. Not delegable below Associate Warden
§ 544.71(c)	“Staff shall document in the inmate’s education file the specific reasons for not requiring the inmate to participate in or to complete the literacy program”	—

Source: PS 5356.01 at pp. 7–9; rule text at 28 C.F.R. § 544.71.

The Program Statement is candid about how rarely the medical exception is granted: “Most medical conditions do not warrant this type of exception, because accommodations and/or modifications to curricula can be given or the inmate can be adequately treated with medication. Only when the inmate’s condition has permanently affected their ability to attend and participate in school, or when the condition permanently prevents learning, even with interventions, should this exception be given” (PS 5356.01 at p. 9). A learning disability is normally a reason for accommodations and a special education teacher, not a reason to be excused.

What 240 instructional hours actually means

Rule	Text
Class schedule	“Literacy classes, including special education classes, will be scheduled Monday through Friday. Students enrolled in the literacy program must be scheduled for class each weekday. Each literacy class session will meet a minimum of 90 minutes per day”
Absences do not count	“At the end of 240 instructional hours, excluding sick time, furloughs, or other absences from scheduled classes, the unit team during scheduled program review sessions shall meet with the inmate…”; “Any time the inmate is absent from class does not count toward the 240 instructional hours”
Hours travel with you	“Instructional hours accrued from previous enrollment in other Bureau facilities, including privately managed facilities, can be credited toward the required 240 instructional hours if the interruption in enrollment is due to reasons beyond the inmate’s control (e.g., transfer between federal correctional facilities, appearance in court)”
A new sentence resets the clock	“Inmates who previously participated in the literacy program, were released, and are resentenced to Bureau custody must earn 240 more instructional hours in the literacy program. Attendance hours from previous sentences are not credited”
Testing out	“After enrollment, an inmate may test out of the literacy program before completing 240 instructional hours if the classroom teacher refers an inmate for a GED certification test and the inmate passes the test”
Transfer	“An inmate who transfers to another institution before completing the mandatory 240 instructional hours will complete the remaining instructional hours at the new institution as resources allow. Time spent in transfer status or preparing for transfer where in-person instructional hours are not attended does not count toward the mandatory 240-hour period”
Restrictive housing	“An inmate who has been placed in restrictive housing, such as the Special Housing Unit, for more than 30 days may be withdrawn from the formal literacy program. This inmate’s status should be monitored and the inmate should be reenrolled as soon as practical once no longer in a restrictive housing unit”
Opting out after 240 hours	“An inmate may request to opt out of the literacy program after 240 instructional hours”; at the program review meeting “the inmate may elect not to continue in the literacy program, and no disciplinary action will be taken. The inmate may not discontinue this program when participation is mandated by statute”
The counseling requirement before opting out	“The inmate will be counseled of any potential impacts to GCT, First Step Act Time Credits, and other loss of incentives prior to program withdrawal”
Proving you already have a diploma	“Inmates have 28 days from their arrival at the institution to provide documentation of a high school diploma or its equivalent. If the institution does not receive verification of high school completion, its equivalent, or a completed college degree, the inmate will be placed on the GED waiting list”

Source: PS 5356.01 at pp. 3–6 and p. 10; § 544.73 rule text at 28 C.F.R. § 544.73.

Good conduct time: the 54-day / 42-day split

This is the money consequence, and it does not come from the Program Statement. It comes from the good-conduct-time regulation, which sets two different annual rates depending on literacy status for offenses committed on or after April 26, 1996:

“(i) Up to 54 days per year if the inmate has earned, or is making satisfactory progress toward earning, a high school diploma, a General Equivalency Degree, or a Bureau-authorized alternative program credit; or (ii) Up to 42 days per year if the inmate has not earned, and is not making satisfactory progress toward earning, a high school diploma, a General Equivalency Degree, or a Bureau-authorized alternative program credit.”

Source: 28 C.F.R. § 523.20(d)(2).

Two adjacent rules complete the picture. For offenses on or after September 13, 1994 but before April 26, 1996 — the VCCLEA window — § 523.20(d)(1) makes good conduct time vest annually only for people who have earned, or are making satisfactory progress toward, a diploma, equivalent degree, or Bureau-authorized alternative program credit. And § 523.20(d)(3) provides that a noncitizen “subject to a final order of removal, deportation, or exclusion is not required to participate in a literacy program to earn yearly awards of GCT credit.”

What “satisfactory progress” means, and how it is lost

The literacy regulation defines satisfactory progress by exclusion — you have it until a specific finding is entered. PS 5356.01 reproduces the rule at p. 4:

“(1) For the purposes of 18 U.S.C. 3624, an inmate subject to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (VCCLEA) or the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA) shall be deemed to be making satisfactory progress toward earning a GED credential or high school diploma unless and until the inmate receives a progress assignment confirming that: (i) The inmate refuses to enroll in the literacy program; (ii) The inmate has been found to have committed a prohibited act that occurred in a literacy program during the last 240 instructional hours of the inmate’s most recent enrollment in the literacy program; or (iii) The inmate has withdrawn from the literacy program.”

“(2) When an inmate subject to VCCLEA or PLRA receives a progress assignment indicating that the inmate is not making satisfactory progress, the assignment shall be changed to indicate satisfactory progress only after the inmate is currently and continuously enrolled in a literacy program for a minimum of 240 instructional hours. Any further withdrawal or finding that the inmate has committed a prohibited act in a literacy program during the last 240 instructional hours of the inmate’s most recent enrollment in the literacy program shall result in a progress assignment indicating that the inmate is again not making satisfactory progress.”

Source: PS 5356.01 at p. 4; rule text at 28 C.F.R. § 544.73(b).

Read (2) closely, because it is the harshest sentence in this policy. Getting the “unsatisfactory” flag removed is not a matter of re-enrolling and showing up for a while. It requires another full 240 instructional hours, currently and continuously enrolled — and a second withdrawal or a second in-class prohibited act puts the flag back.

Work, pay, and discipline

Rule	Text
Grade 4 appointment	“An inmate who does not meet the literacy requirement may be assigned to a grade 4 position contingent upon the inmate’s continued enrollment in the literacy program”
The pay ceiling	“An inmate ordinarily must show prior attainment of a GED credential or high school diploma in order to be considered for a commissary work assignment above minimum pay level, an institution work assignment above grade 4 compensation, or an industrial work assignment above grade four or in a non-graded incentive pay position”
Industry exception	“If labor force needs require, an inmate who does not meet the literacy requirement may be assigned to an industrial non-graded incentive pay position if the inmate is simultaneously enrolled in a literacy or related program. Withdrawal from the literacy program shall result in termination of the assignment. Local Federal Prison Industry (FPI) management may elect to retain the reassigned inmate in an hourly rated grade 4 position”
Promotion	“An inmate ordinarily must show prior attainment of a GED credential or high school diploma to be promoted above the minimum pay level or grade in a commissary work assignment, an institutional work assignment, or an industrial work assignment”
Warden’s exception	“The Warden may, for good cause, exempt inmates on a case-by-case basis from the literacy requirements for work assignment appointment and promotion. Staff shall document such exemption in the inmate’s education file and central file”
Pay promotion exemption for slow progress	“The Warden or designee may grant a pay promotion exemption if an inmate is in the literacy program and needs more than 480 hours to complete the program.” Not delegable below the Supervisor of Education; reviewed “at least every 240 instructional hours”; lost if effort lapses, if the person is found guilty of a prohibited act that occurred in the literacy program, or on withdrawal
Discipline for refusing	“staff may take disciplinary action against an inmate lacking a GED credential or high school diploma if that inmate refuses to enroll in, and to complete, the mandatory 240 instructional hours of the literacy program.” PS 5356.01 identifies the charge: “Prohibited Act 306, Refusing to work or accept a program assignment, or any other appropriate prohibited act”
Removal as a sanction	“Removal from a literacy program may be imposed as a disciplinary sanction by the Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) or Unit Discipline Committee (UDC) for a specified period of time, not to exceed six months”

Source: PS 5356.01 at pp. 6–7 and p. 11; rule text at 28 C.F.R. § 544.74 and § 544.75.

One sentence of § 544.74(b) does not appear in the Program Statement, and it is the sentence most likely to help someone. The published regulation continues: “An inmate already in an assignment above the minimum pay grade who had met prior literacy requirements when approved for promotion is eligible for further promotion under the prior standard. Such inmate, however, must meet the current standard if, due to demotion based upon a poor performance appraisal, he or she needs to reapply for a promotion.” PS 5356.01 omits it. If someone was promoted years ago under an earlier literacy standard and is now told they need a GED to move up again, that grandfather sentence is in the binding rule even though it is not in the policy the institution is reading from.

What the Literacy Program means for you

If you are the person inside: the 28-day verification window

Handle the 28-day verification window first, because it is the shortest clock in this policy and the easiest to miss. If you already have a diploma, a GED, or a college degree, the institution needs documentation within 28 days of your arrival or you go on the GED waiting list. PS 5356.01 lists what counts: official documentation sent to the Supervisor of Education from the school or agency; a presentence investigation report where “the writer clearly indicates educational records were verified”; or a valid postsecondary credential — an associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree is acceptable proof of high school completion. A foreign diploma works if an English translation comes directly from the school or agency to the Supervisor of Education. If you cannot get the records yourself, ask a staff member for a BP-A0812, Request for Education Records, and submit it to the Supervisor of Education, who forwards it (PS 5356.01 at p. 10).

Track your hours yourself. The Supervisor of Education or designee reviews progress “every time the inmate completes 240 instructional hours” and records the hours in the Bureau’s system, but absences do not count and transfer time does not count. Keeping your own log of class days makes it possible to challenge a number that looks wrong.

Do not withdraw without getting the counseling in writing. The policy entitles you to it — you “will be counseled of any potential impacts to GCT, First Step Act Time Credits, and other loss of incentives prior to program withdrawal,” and that counseling is documented (PS 5356.01 at p. 6). Ask for a copy. If your offense falls in the VCCLEA or PLRA window, ask specifically what your annual good conduct time rate becomes, and get the answer before you sign anything. Nothing on this page tells you what your rate will be; that is a computation the Bureau makes on your record in the first instance.

If you are a family member: locating the diploma

The single most useful thing you can do is on the outside. Find the diploma. Call the high school, the district, or the state GED testing service, and have them send official documentation directly to the Supervisor of Education at the institution. A college transcript works too — any completed degree is acceptable verification of high school completion. Doing this in the first weeks can spare months on a waiting list and, for people sentenced in the VCCLEA or PLRA windows, can matter to the annual good conduct time rate.

Understand what you are looking at if you hear “he’s on the GED list.” The literacy program is real school: Monday through Friday, at least 90 minutes a day, with a classroom teacher and, where there are learning support needs, a special education teacher who works on accommodations, interventions and modifications. Waiting lists are common, and evening classes may be added when the Warden determines they are needed “to reduce the waiting list or to expand program offerings” (PS 5356.01 at p. 4). Being on the list is not a disciplinary status and does not mean anything has gone wrong.

If you are counsel: the literacy program

The literacy flag is a sentence-computation issue that presents as an education issue. For a client with an offense date on or after April 26, 1996, 28 C.F.R. § 523.20(d)(2) sets a 54-day annual maximum with satisfactory progress and a 42-day maximum without; for the September 13, 1994 to April 26, 1996 window, § 523.20(d)(1) makes vesting itself contingent. Before litigating anything, get the SENTRY sentence computation and the education file together, because the argument is almost always that the progress assignment is wrong on the facts, not that the rule is wrong.

The definitional structure in § 544.73(b) is defense-friendly and underused. Satisfactory progress is the default: a person “shall be deemed to be making satisfactory progress … unless and until” one of three specified findings is entered — refusal to enroll, a prohibited act that occurred in a literacy program during the last 240 instructional hours of the most recent enrollment, or withdrawal. That is a closed list. An unsatisfactory flag entered for anything else — poor test scores, slow progress, a prohibited act that occurred somewhere other than the literacy program, an involuntary removal on transfer or from restrictive housing — is not supported by the regulation’s own terms. The Program Statement is explicit that transfer and restrictive-housing removals are involuntary withdrawals, which are categorically different from the voluntary withdrawal in (b)(1)(iii).

Watch the omitted grandfather sentence in § 544.74(b), noted above, and watch the exemption paperwork. Under § 544.71(c) staff “shall document in the inmate’s education file the specific reasons” for any exemption; under § 544.74(c) a work-assignment exemption goes in both the education file and the central file. A missing document is often the fastest route to relief, and the file is obtainable through the Bureau’s FOIA and Privacy Act process.

What changed with Program Statement 5356.01

This is the newest policy in the education series, and the change is substantial. PS 5356.01 issued June 22, 2026, as part of the Bureau’s mass reissue of program statements, and it rescinded PS 5350.28, Literacy Program (GED Standard), dated December 1, 2003 — a policy that had governed for more than twenty-two years. Every competing page written before summer 2026 describes 5350.28.

The Program Statement lists its own changes at p. 1. The most consequential for a person arriving at an institution:

Change	What it means
The title changed from Literacy Program (GED Standard) to Literacy Program	The policy is no longer framed solely around the GED credential
The window to prove you already have a diploma dropped from 60 days to 28 days	This is the practical headline. A family that took two months to get records to the institution under the old policy is now more than two weeks late
Specific references to a Bureau inmate management system and its codes were removed	Education staff now work from the Education Services Branch page of the Bureau’s intranet rather than from the policy for system codes, education needs, progress reviews, and transaction codes
Incentives now cross-reference the First Step Act	Monetary incentives for literacy participation and completion are governed by the Program Statement on First Step Act assessments, programming and incentives, and FSA time credits by the Program Statement on First Step Act time credits
Family literacy activities coordination was removed	The 2003 policy assigned that responsibility; the 2026 edition does not

Two things did not change, and both are worth stating because they are frequently reported wrong. The 240-hour figure is unchanged and remains the current text of 28 C.F.R. § 544.70 — verified against the eCFR text current to August 6, 2026. And subpart H itself was not amended in 2026; the regulation stands as it did, at §§ 544.70 through 544.75. What moved was the Bureau’s instruction for applying it.

The reissue also tightened the link between literacy and everything else. 28 C.F.R. § 550.54(b) conditions RDAP incentives on meeting both financial responsibility obligations under part 545 and “GED responsibilities (see 28 CFR part 544).” Section 544.74 caps work pay at grade 4 without a credential. And § 523.20(d) prices the whole thing in days per year. Literacy is not a standalone program in the current regulatory scheme; it is a gate on pay, on drug-program incentives, and on good conduct time.

Where people get stuck when a diploma cannot be verified

The institution says it cannot verify a diploma that exists

This is the most common literacy problem and it is entirely documentary. The policy lists exactly four acceptable proofs — official documentation from the school or agency to the Supervisor of Education; a presentence report where the writer states that educational records were verified; a valid postsecondary credential; or a translated foreign diploma sent directly from the issuing school. A photocopy carried in personal property is not on that list. The route is a BP-A0812 Request for Education Records through the Supervisor of Education, plus a parallel effort from the outside, because a school will often respond faster to a former student’s family than to a mailed institutional form. Escalate through the cop-out to BP-9 path only if the records arrive and the flag does not change — under 28 C.F.R. § 542.14 the BP-9 must be filed within 20 calendar days of the event you are complaining about.

An “unsatisfactory progress” flag appeared after a transfer or a SHU placement

Check the basis. The regulation’s list of triggers is closed — refusal to enroll, an in-program prohibited act during the last 240 instructional hours, or withdrawal — and PS 5356.01 classifies transfer interruptions and restrictive-housing removals of more than 30 days as involuntary withdrawals, with an express duty to monitor and re-enroll “as soon as practical.” The policy also credits hours earned at a prior Bureau facility, including privately managed facilities, “if the interruption in enrollment is due to reasons beyond the inmate’s control.” Ask in writing for the progress assignment, the date it was entered, the basis stated, and the hour count from each institution. Where the flag affects good conduct time, this stops being an education dispute and becomes a sentence computation dispute — that is a consult, not a form.

Pay is stuck at grade 4 and the GED is years away

There are two doors, and most people know about neither. The first is § 544.74(c): “The Warden may, for good cause, exempt inmates on a case-by-case basis from the literacy requirements for work assignment appointment and promotion.” The second is the pay promotion exemption in PS 5356.01 for people who need more than 480 hours to finish — the Supervisor of Education is directed to recommend it “unless Education staff determine the inmate is not making an acceptable level of effort,” and it is reviewed at least every 240 hours. Both require documented effort, which is why attendance matters even when progress is slow. And if the person was promoted under an earlier literacy standard, raise the grandfather sentence in § 544.74(b) that the Program Statement omits.

A disciplinary charge for refusing school

PS 5356.01 identifies the charge as Prohibited Act 306, refusing to work or accept a program assignment, and it makes two limits explicit. First, a DHO or UDC may impose removal from the literacy program “for a specified period of time, not to exceed six months,” and the Supervisor of Education must monitor and return the person to class or the waitlist at the end of it. Second, people exempt under § 544.71 — pretrial, study and observation, and deportable aliens — “even if participating voluntarily, may elect to opt out of a literacy program any time without disciplinary action.” So can anyone who has completed the 240 hours: at the program review meeting “the inmate may elect not to continue in the literacy program, and no disciplinary action will be taken.” A 306 charge against someone in either of those groups is contestable through the inmate discipline process on its face.

Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: The literacy file is one of the few places where a piece of paper from twenty years ago changes an arithmetic result today. When we look at a good-conduct-time question we ask for the education file, the progress assignment history with dates and stated bases, the instructional-hour count from every institution the client has been at, and the sentence computation — in that order. More often than the reputation of these cases suggests, the flag traces to an involuntary interruption the regulation’s own three-item list does not cover, or to a diploma nobody ever asked the right school for.

Related BOP policy on education and literacy

Page	What it covers
GED and high school diploma programs in federal prison	The classroom side — testing, studying inside, and what families can send
Good conduct time (PS 5884.03)	How the 54-day and 42-day rates are actually computed
First Step Act time credits (PS 5410.01)	The separate credit system the withdrawal counseling must address
First Step Act assessments, programming and incentives (PS 5405.01)	Where literacy incentives now live after the 2026 reissue
Inmate work and performance pay (PS 5251.06)	The grade 4 pay ceiling and the achievement award for completing literacy
Education, training and leisure-time program standards (PS 5300.21)	Program completion requirements across the education department
Career and technical education (PS 5353.02)	Vocational and apprenticeship tracks after the literacy requirement is met
Postsecondary education (PS 5354.04)	College programs, which require the credential this page is about
English-as-a-Second-Language program (PS 5351.01)	The program some people are placed in instead of literacy
Educational good time for D.C. Code offenders (PS 5885.01)	DCEGT sentence credit for D.C. Code sentences
Inmate discipline program (PS 5270.09)	The Prohibited Act 306 charge and the six-month removal sanction
Administrative remedy program (PS 1330.18)	The BP-9 / BP-10 / BP-11 route and its deadlines
Early release from federal prison	Where sentence-shortening work is handled by the firm’s attorneys

Frequently Asked Questions About the Literacy and GED Program

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026