Release of Inmates Prior to a Weekend or Legal Holiday (Program Statement 5140.36)

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

Field	Value
Program Statement	5140.36
Subject	Release of Inmates Prior to a Weekend or Legal Holiday
Effective / current edition	11-23-2001
Change notices	None. BOP’s published policy list carries 5140.36 with no change notice; the posted file is 5140_036.pdf.
Supersedes	PS 5140.32, Release of Inmates Prior to a Weekend or Legal Holiday (10/22/99), rescinded — PS 5140.36 at p. 1
Governing statute	For offenses on or after November 1, 1987: 18 U.S.C. § 3624(a). For earlier offenses: 18 U.S.C. § 4163, repealed prospectively by Pub. L. 98–473 and preserved only for pre-1987 conduct. Supervised release start: 18 U.S.C. § 3624(e). See PS 5140.36 at pp. 2–3.
28 C.F.R. anchor	Rules cited: 28 C.F.R. § 571.30. Rules referenced: 28 C.F.R. § 2.2 and § 2.29(c) — PS 5140.36 at p. 2
Related BP forms	The Program Statement lists none. Release-day processing itself runs on BP-A0392, Release Authorization — PS 5800.19 at pp. 26, 28
Official PDF	bop.gov/policy/progstat/5140_036.pdf

Checked against the BOP policy set · 2026-09-06. (Our verification methodology page is in production; until it is live, every source on this page is linked inline.)

When a federal prisoner’s release date lands on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday, the Bureau of Prisons is permitted — not obligated — to let that person out on the last preceding weekday instead. Program Statement 5140.36 is the Bureau’s internal instruction to its staff for applying that authority, and it splits the instruction in two: one set of rules for people sentenced for offenses committed on or after November 1, 1987 (“new law”), and a different set for offenses committed before that date (“old law”).

This page cannot tell you, or your loved one, a release date. It explains a rule about what happens when a date already computed falls on a weekend or a holiday. The computation itself — the arithmetic that produces the date in the first place — is done by the Bureau’s Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie, Texas and is governed by the Sentence Computation Manual, PS 5880.28. Anyone who tells you a date without a sentence monitoring computation sheet in front of them is guessing. For the plain-language walkthrough of the last months of a sentence, our companion page Getting Out is in production; until it publishes, start with the release plan.

The rule itself: release timing

Everything in this section is transcribed from the Bureau’s own text at bop.gov/policy/progstat/5140_036.pdf. Text the Bureau prints in bracketed bold is regulation lifted from 28 C.F.R.; regular type is the Bureau’s implementing instruction. The Program Statement says so on its own first page, on two separate lines: “[Bracketed Bold – Rules]” and “Regular Type – Implementing Information” (PS 5140.36 at p. 1). That typographic convention is the whole key to reading this document, and it tells you exactly which sentences bind the Bureau and which are internal housekeeping.

The core rule — bracketed, therefore regulation

PS 5140.36 at p. 1, Purpose and Scope, transcribed verbatim:

1. [PURPOSE AND SCOPE §571.30. The Bureau of Prisons may release an inmate whose release date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, on the last preceding weekday unless it is necessary to detain the inmate for another jurisdiction seeking custody under a detainer, or for any other reason which might indicate that the inmate should not be released until the inmate’s scheduled release date.]

For release of District of Columbia inmates, refer to the District of Columbia Sentence Computation Manual.

That bracketed sentence is not paraphrase. It is the codified text of 28 C.F.R. § 571.30, word for word, as it stands on eCFR today. The regulation’s source note is [54 FR 49070, Nov. 28, 1989].

And the statute behind it, 18 U.S.C. § 3624(a), verified against the current U.S. Code:

(a) Date of Release.— A prisoner shall be released by the Bureau of Prisons on the date of the expiration of the prisoner’s term of imprisonment, less any time credited toward the service of the prisoner’s sentence as provided in subsection (b). If the date for a prisoner’s release falls on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday at the place of confinement, the prisoner may be released by the Bureau on the last preceding weekday.

Read the two sentences of § 3624(a) side by side and the architecture is obvious. The first sentence uses shall — release on the expiration date is mandatory. The second uses may — the weekend-and-holiday shift is discretionary. The regulation repeats the same choice of verb. Nothing in this page changes that: an accurate summary of the law is that the Bureau has permission to release early into a weekend, not that it owes anyone that release.

The program objective and the staffing obligation

PS 5140.36 at p. 1:

3. PROGRAM OBJECTIVE. The expected result of this program is: Whenever possible, inmates will be released on the last preceding weekday if their projected release date falls on a weekend or legal holiday.

PS 5140.36 at p. 2:

7. RESPONSIBILITIES. Wardens and Community Corrections Managers must establish a system that allows for routine consideration of an inmate’s weekday release when his or her release date falls on a weekend or legal holiday.

The Program Statement’s own word there is “must.” That word is the Bureau directing its own employees, not a rule a person in custody can enforce in court the way a regulation can be enforced. What the sentence does establish, usefully, is that “routine consideration” is supposed to be a system rather than a favor — nobody should have to ask for it — and that the same obligation runs to Community Corrections Managers, the position now titled Residential Reentry Manager, for people releasing from a halfway house.

PS 5140.36 at p. 2 also fixes the reach of the policy across the Bureau’s detention-side facilities:

6. MCC/MDC/FDC/FTC PROCEDURES. Procedures in this Program Statement apply to Metropolitan Correctional Centers, Metropolitan Detention Centers, Federal Detention Centers, and Federal Transportation Centers.

New law — offenses on or after November 1, 1987

This is the section that applies to nearly everyone in federal custody today. PS 5140.36 at p. 3, with the bracketed sentence again being regulation — this time 28 C.F.R. § 571.30(b):

9. NEW LAW RELEASES. [b. The release authority for inmates sentenced under the provisions of the Sentencing Reform Act of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 for offenses committed on/or after November 1, 1987 is pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3624(a).]

a. Any “new law” federal prisoner whose release date falls on a weekend or legal holiday may be released on the last preceding weekday.

b. When an inmate is released on the last preceding weekday before a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, any term of supervised release is to begin on the day the inmate is actually released from custody and runs concurrently with any Federal, state, or local term of probation or supervised release or parole (18 U.S.C. §3624(e)).

And PS 5140.36 at p. 4:

c. The provisions of this rule apply to all “new law” federal inmates incarcerated in Bureau institutions and contract facilities.

Paragraph b is the sleeper provision, and it is the one people most often miss. 18 U.S.C. § 3624(e) states: “The term of supervised release commences on the day the person is released from imprisonment and runs concurrently with any Federal, State, or local term of probation or supervised release or parole for another offense to which the person is subject or becomes subject during the term of supervised release.” So a weekend release does not just move the front door by a day or three — it moves the entire supervised release term forward by the same amount. Released on the Friday instead of the Monday, the clock on supervision starts Friday and runs out three days earlier at the far end.

Old law — offenses committed before November 1, 1987

A small and shrinking population, but the rules are genuinely different and the differences are traps. PS 5140.36 at p. 2, bracketed regulation — 28 C.F.R. § 571.30(a):

8. OLD LAW RELEASES. [a. The release authority for inmates convicted of offenses occurring prior to November 1, 1987 is pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §4163. The number of days used under 18 U.S.C. §4163 may not be added to the number of days remaining to be served to release an inmate “as if . . . on parole” (18 U.S.C. §4164) who would otherwise have been released by expiration of sentence.]

Then, PS 5140.36 at p. 3, the implementing instructions:

Instruction, transcribed verbatim	Pin-cite
“Similar procedures also apply to inmates released on parole, yet the number of days remaining upon release will be adjusted to reflect the early release (see the Sentence Computation Manual (“Old Law” Pre-CCCA-1984) and 28 CFR 2.29(c)).”	PS 5140.36 at p. 3
“An inmate may not be released under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. §4163 on the last preceding weekday if the actual release date falls before the minimum parole eligibility date as defined in 28 CFR 2.2 (e.g., when an inmate’s actual parole eligibility date falls on a Saturday, the inmate may not be released on the preceding Friday).”	PS 5140.36 at p. 3
“Release on the workday preceding a holiday or weekend does not require the application of the above bulleted guidelines, as 18 U.S.C. §4163, 28 CFR 571.30, and the Sentence Computation Manual (“Old Law” Pre-CCCA of 1984) authorize such a release.”	PS 5140.36 at p. 3

The parole-side rule sits in a different regulation entirely. 28 C.F.R. § 2.29(c), a U.S. Parole Commission rule, provides: “When an effective date of parole falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the Warden of the appropriate institution shall be authorized to release the prisoner on the first working day preceding such date.” Note the wording difference from § 571.30 — “first working day,” not “last preceding weekday.” That distinction matters, and we come back to it below.

The December holiday-window Lump Sum Award — old law only

This is the single most misunderstood paragraph in the Program Statement, and the reason the 2001 edition exists at all. PS 5140.36 at p. 3, transcribed verbatim (the Bureau’s bullet character is #):

c. Each year, at the Warden’s discretion, a Lump Sum Award (LSA) may be granted to achieve an earlier release for those inmates who have a scheduled Expiration or Mandatory Release date falling on December 11 through January 2. Such a grant will be made, provided,

– the individual inmate’s conduct or adjustment supports such an award under the provisions of the Sentence Computation Manual (“Old Law” Pre-CCCA of 1984), – the grant does not exceed the statutory maximum for Extra Good Time (18 U.S.C. §4162), and – the inmate is not sentenced under the CCCA (see below).

Read the third bullet twice. The December 11–January 2 award is available only to old-law prisoners — people whose offense conduct predates November 1, 1987. The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 abolished the Extra Good Time machinery that the award draws on, so there is no equivalent for anyone sentenced under the modern scheme. There is no “holiday release” for a new-law federal sentence. What a new-law prisoner gets is the ordinary § 3624(a) shift: if the computed date is December 25, and December 25 is a legal holiday, the Bureau may use the last preceding weekday.

Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: Every December, families call convinced that the Bureau grants a “Christmas release.” The Lump Sum Award paragraph is where that belief comes from, and it does not reach anyone sentenced under the modern law. Do not let a hoped-for holiday date drive travel bookings, lease signings, or a job start. Ask the unit team for a printed sentence monitoring computation sheet showing the projected release date, then ask a second, separate question in writing: whether that date falls on a weekend or a legal holiday and whether the institution has flagged it for weekday-release consideration. Two questions, two answers, both in writing. That is the only version of this that is worth relying on.

Discretionary means discretionary — and what that costs in practice

The statute says “may.” The regulation says “may.” And the Bureau’s own Sentence Computation Manual says the quiet part out loud. PS 5880.28 at p. 86 (Chapter 1, page 1-38), after quoting § 3624(a):

The BOP’s authority to utilize this section is discretionary and is not mandatory. For example, if a prisoner with a detainer on file has a release date that occurs on a weekend or holiday and the authority that placed the detainer is unable to take custody on any other day but the release date that falls on the weekend or holiday, then the early release provisions of this section should not be used.

And at p. 87 (Chapter 1, page 1-39):

When a prisoner is released on the last preceding weekday before a weekend or holiday, any term of supervised release shall begin on the day the inmate is actually released from custody. . . . The Inmate Systems Manager is responsible for assuring that routine consideration is given to those prisoners that have release dates that occur on a weekend or holiday. Community Corrections Managers are responsible for making weekend or holiday early release decisions for community corrections centers.

The courts have read the same way. In Gee v. Kansas, 912 F.2d 414 (10th Cir. 1990), a federal prisoner argued he had to be released once he had served his term. The Tenth Circuit rejected it, holding that the old-law release statute “does not require federal officials to release a prisoner who has served his term when a detainer is lodged against the prisoner,” and adding that “28 C.F.R. § 571.30 (1989) . . . envisions that the Bureau of Prisons may retain custody of a prisoner beyond his release date if another jurisdiction is seeking custody under a detainer.” The same reasoning runs through the current text: the regulation’s exception for “another jurisdiction seeking custody under a detainer, or for any other reason which might indicate that the inmate should not be released until the inmate’s scheduled release date” is written broadly on purpose.

Two consequences follow, and they are worth naming plainly rather than softening.

First, a detainer is the most common reason a weekend shift does not happen. If a state or county has lodged a detainer and can only take custody on the scheduled date, the Bureau will hold to the scheduled date. That is the express example in PS 5880.28, and it is exactly the situation Gee addressed. If a detainer is in play, the question that actually matters is not “will they let me out Friday” but “what is the detainer, is it still valid, and can it be resolved” — see Detainers and the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (PS 5800.15) and Transfer of a Prisoner to State Custody Prior to Release (PS 5140.44).

Second, there is no cause of action in “they released me Monday instead of Friday.” A Program Statement is the Bureau’s internal instruction to its own staff, and both the statute and the regulation phrase this authority permissively. The realistic uses of this rule are practical, not litigative: making sure the institution has actually looked at the date, making sure a detainer is not silently driving the decision, and making sure everyone downstream — family, employer, probation officer, halfway house — is working from the right day.

What actually happens on release day

The weekend rule decides which day. A separate policy decides what happens on it, and families almost never see this part described anywhere. The current Receiving and Discharge Manual — PS 5800.19, dated May 7, 2026 — lays the sequence out in Chapter 3, and it is the most useful hour-by-hour source there is.

When	What the Receiving and Discharge Manual directs	Pin-cite
Before release	Correctional Systems staff “reference and follow the Releasing Inmates Checklist”; the Central Inmate Monitoring Clearance and Separatee Data form “must be verified within 24 hours before the inmate’s release”	PS 5800.19 at p. 26
Ordinarily one workday before release	The “merry-go-round” — “Institution departments may request an inmate report before release to resolve outstanding issues.” Personal property may be brought to R&D for pack out at this time	PS 5800.19 at p. 26
At least one business day before release	Health Services confirms release medication, medical devices and supplies with Correctional Systems	PS 5800.19 at p. 27
At least one business day before release	Unit Management delivers the person’s ID card(s) and personal documents — “birth certificate, Social Security Card, Passport, etc.” — to R&D	PS 5800.19 at pp. 27–28
Release day, in R&D	Positive identification “through photo comparison and verbal questioning”; “a right thumbprint is taken and placed on the BP-A0392, Release Authorization form”	PS 5800.19 at p. 26
Release day, in R&D	Visual search and dress out: “Clothing worn to R&D is taken and the inmate is dressed in appropriate clothing for the type of release and the climate of the destination.”	PS 5800.19 at pp. 26–27
Release day, in R&D	“The inmate will receive gratuity and personal funds according to Program Statement Release Gratuities, Transportation, and Clothing.”	PS 5800.19 at p. 28
Release day, in R&D	A second identification verification by a staff member the Warden designates, who signs the BP-A0392	PS 5800.19 at p. 28
Immediately before departure	The release transaction is entered in the Bureau’s inmate management system; “All processing must be completed before the inmate’s scheduled departure time.”	PS 5800.19 at pp. 27–28

Two things fall out of that table. The “merry-go-round” is ordinarily the workday before release, which means a Friday release has a Thursday merry-go-round — and if the date moves, so does everything upstream of it. And medication, identity documents and funds all have to clear at least one business day ahead, which is precisely why a shift from Monday to Friday can go wrong: it compresses the paperwork window into a day that may itself abut a holiday. When a weekend release does slip, the reason is usually a document that did not arrive on time, not a decision that someone made about the person.

What the weekend and holiday release rule means for you

If you are the person inside: get the computation sheet first

Get the computation sheet before you get an opinion. Everything on this page operates on a date that has already been calculated; if the date is wrong, the weekend rule is irrelevant. Once you have it, look at what day of the week the date lands on, and check it against the eleven legal public holidays in 5 U.S.C. § 6103(a). If it lands on a Saturday, a Sunday, or one of those holidays, ask in writing whether the institution is considering the last preceding weekday.

Then plan for the later of the two possibilities, not the earlier one. The authority is permissive, a detainer can override it, and the “merry-go-round” and document checks all run on business days. Tell whoever is picking you up to hold the later date and treat an earlier release as a bonus. And understand the trade you are making if it happens: under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(e) and PS 5140.36 at p. 3, supervised release starts the day you actually walk out — so an earlier release means an earlier start and an earlier end to supervision, and it means reporting to the probation officer sooner than you may have planned.

If you are the family member: two rules about release dates

Two practical rules. Do not book anything non-refundable on a date you have not seen in writing, and expect the day to be a business day rather than a weekend. The whole architecture of the release process — the checklist, the medication confirmation, the identity documents, the funds — is built around staff who work weekdays, which is exactly why the rule exists.

Second, ask about a detainer early, not in the last month. It is the one fact most likely to change the answer, and it is also the one most likely to go unmentioned until release week. Your loved one can ask on a cop-out; if there is a detainer, that is the moment to get counsel involved rather than the week before. Our orientation for families is What Families Should Know About Federal Prison, and the funds-and-transportation side of release day is covered on our page on Release Gratuities, Transportation, and Clothing (PS 5873.06).

If you are counsel: release timing

Three points to set expectations on. One, this is a permissive authority in both the statute and the regulation, and the Bureau’s own manual calls it “discretionary and . . . not mandatory” (PS 5880.28 at p. 86) — so a failure to shift a date is not, standing alone, a viable claim. Two, where the real dispute is the computation, the remedy is a § 2241 petition in the district of confinement after exhaustion, not a challenge to PS 5140.36. Three, the § 3624(e) point is the one worth capturing for the client’s benefit: a shift forward advances the supervised release commencement date, which advances the early-termination clock under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(1) as well. Where records are the obstacle, the computation sheet and the release paperwork are obtainable through the unit team and, failing that, through a Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act request.

What changed from PS 5140.32 to 5140.36

PS 5140.36, dated 11/23/2001, rescinded PS 5140.32, Release of Inmates Prior to a Weekend or Legal Holiday (10/22/99) (PS 5140.36 at p. 1). The Bureau states its own reason for the revision at p. 1:

2. SUMMARY OF CHANGES. This Program Statement has been revised to provide annual discretionary authority to Wardens to allow an additional Lump Sum Award for “old law” inmates with projected release dates during the period of December 11 through January 2. Previously, an Operations Memorandum was issued annually to convey this discretionary authority to Wardens.

In other words, the entire point of the 2001 edition was to stop reissuing a December memorandum every year — a housekeeping change that touched only the old-law population. The core rule for everyone else has been the same since the regulation was published in 1989.

The statement has not been reissued in the twenty-five years since, and the Bureau’s mass reissue of 23 program statements effective June 22, 2026 did not reach it. But the world around it moved in four ways worth knowing:

The referenced policies are almost all superseded. PS 5140.36 at p. 2 lists four referenced directives. Three have been replaced: PS 5800.07 Inmate Systems Management Manual (12/24/91) — the receiving-and-discharge function it covered now lives in PS 5800.19 (5/7/2026), which rescinded PS 5800.18 CN-1 (2/27/2025), with the wider systems function in the Correctional Systems Manual, PS 5800.15; and PS 5880.32 District of Columbia Sentence Computation Manual (1/23/01), which has been reissued as PS 5880.33 — a reformatting reissue that folded in the change notices, with the Bureau stating that “no text changes have been made” (PS 5880.33 at p. 1). Only the two sentence-computation manuals it cites, PS 5880.28 and PS 5880.30, remain under their 2001 numbers.

The list of federal legal holidays grew. 5 U.S.C. § 6103(a) now names eleven legal public holidays: New Year’s Day, the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Juneteenth was added in 2021, two decades after PS 5140.36 issued. The practical effect is one more date on the calendar each year that can trigger the § 3624(a) shift.

Prerelease custody was rewritten around this rule. In 2001, most people went out the institution’s front door. Today, 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c) directs the Director “to the extent practicable” to ensure a prisoner “spends a portion of the final months of that term (not to exceed 12 months)” in reentry conditions, and § 3624(c)(2) permits home confinement “for the shorter of 10 percent of the term of imprisonment of that prisoner or 6 months.” Add First Step Act time credits, which can move someone to prerelease custody or supervised release earlier still, and the day a person leaves the institution is now usually different from the day the sentence ends. PS 5140.36’s weekend rule attaches to the release date — so for many people it now operates at the halfway house or on home confinement, which is why the policy assigns that decision to Community Corrections Managers, today’s Residential Reentry Managers. See Halfway House Placement Procedures (PS 7310.04) and Home Confinement (PS 7320.01).

Release preparation was completely rebuilt. PS 5325.09, Release Preparation Program, effective June 22, 2026, rescinded PS 5325.07 (12/31/2007) and now sets enrollment “between 18 and 24 months prior to the inmate’s institution departure date to the community” (PS 5325.09 at p. 8). It also builds in a document handoff that bears directly on release day: “Two weeks prior to the inmate releasing, Unit Management will provide all original documentation to Correctional Systems who will provide the release identification documents to the inmate upon release or transfer to the community” (PS 5325.09 at p. 10).

Where people get stuck on the release date

Four problems recur. Each has a route, and the route matters more than the complaint.

“My date is a Saturday. Nobody will tell me whether I go out Friday.” Start with an Inmate Request to Staff — form BP-A0148, universally called a “cop-out” — to the Case Manager, and send a second one to the Inmate Systems Manager or the Correctional Systems Department. Ask two separate questions: what is the projected release date on the current sentence monitoring computation, and has the institution flagged the date for weekday-release consideration under PS 5140.36. Ask for the computation sheet itself. PS 5880.28 at p. 87 places the “routine consideration” duty on the Inmate Systems Manager, so naming that position is not a rhetorical flourish — it addresses the request to the person the Bureau’s own manual makes responsible. See Request to Staff (PS 5511.08).

A detainer is sitting on the file and nobody has said so. This is the reason the answer is “no” far more often than any staffing problem. Both 28 C.F.R. § 571.30 and PS 5880.28 at p. 86 name a detainer as the paradigm case for declining the weekday shift, and Gee v. Kansas, 912 F.2d 414 (10th Cir. 1990), holds the Bureau may hold past the release date to transfer custody. Ask, in writing, whether any detainer or unresolved warrant is lodged, and get the answer before making plans. A detainer is a distinct legal problem with its own remedies — see Detainers and the Interstate Agreement on Detainers — and it belongs in a consult, not a grievance.

The date itself looks wrong. A weekend-release question is often a sentence-computation question wearing a disguise. If prior custody credit, good conduct time, or First Step Act credits appear to be mis-applied, the weekend rule is not the issue and a BP-9 about Friday will not fix it. Route it as a computation dispute: Challenging a BOP Sentence Computation, Good Conduct Time, Prior Custody Credit. Where the computation is genuinely wrong and internal remedies have run out, the vehicle is a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 in the district of confinement.

The paperwork route, when it is genuinely the institution’s failure. If the cop-out produces nothing, the formal ladder is the Administrative Remedy Program: BP-9 to the Warden, BP-10 to the Regional Director, BP-11 to the Office of National Inmate Appeals, under 28 C.F.R. part 542, subpart B. The window is short — 28 C.F.R. § 542.14(a) sets “20 calendar days following the date on which the basis for the Request occurred,” subject to an extension “[w]here the inmate demonstrates a valid reason for delay.” The Bureau publishes BP-A0148 but does not publish the BP-9, BP-10 or BP-11 forms; those come from the unit team. See Administrative Remedy Program (PS 1330.18). Exhaustion matters if court is ever a possibility: under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), no action may be brought about prison conditions until available administrative remedies are exhausted. “Exhaustion” means completing every level of the internal ladder, on time, before filing.

Where the underlying problem is computation, designation, a detainer, or a prerelease-custody decision, the administrative ladder is necessary but rarely sufficient by itself. Those belong in a consult — see Federal Prison Consulting Services, Federal Prison Early Release, or contact us.

Related BOP policy on release timing

The paired page. Getting Out — the plain-language walkthrough of the final stretch of a federal sentence — is in production and will link back here for the rule. Until it publishes, the closest companions are The Release Plan and The Second Chance Act.

The policies that decide the date. Sentence Computation Manual (PS 5880.28) is where the arithmetic lives and is the page to read first. Good Conduct Time (PS 5884.03) and First Step Act Time Credits (PS 5410.01) are the two credits that move it. Detainers and the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (PS 5800.15) and Transfer of a Prisoner to State Custody Prior to Release (PS 5140.44) are what stops it.

The policies that decide where you are on that date. Halfway House Placement Procedures (PS 7310.04), Home Confinement (PS 7320.01), the Community Corrections Manual (PS 7300.09), and the Residential Reentry Management field offices. Also Release Preparation Program (PS 5325.09), reissued June 2026, and Furloughs (PS 5280.09), which governs the other way a person leaves the institution briefly.

The mechanics and the records. Receiving and Discharge Manual for release-day processing, Correctional Systems Manual (PS 5800.15) for the systems behind it, Inmate Central File, Privacy Folder, and Parole Mini-Files (PS 5800.17) for where the paperwork sits, FOIA and Privacy Act Requests for getting it, and Administrative Remedy Program for the grievance ladder. Background reading on our site: Travel Within the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Unescorted Transfers and Voluntary Surrenders (PS 5140.43), the mirror-image rule at the front end of a sentence.

Frequently Asked Questions About Release Dates and Holidays

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Program Statement 5140.36 — full text

What follows is the Bureau’s own text of Program Statement 5140.36, reproduced in full. The official version is posted by the Bureau here: BOP Program Statement 5140.36 (PDF).

Program Statement U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons OPI: CPD NUMBER: 5140.36 DATE: 11/23/2001 SUBJECT: Release of Inmates Prior to a Weekend or Legal Holiday 1. [PURPOSE AND SCOPE §571.30. The Bureau of Prisons may release an inmate whose release date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, on the last preceding weekday unless it is necessary to detain the inmate for another jurisdiction seeking custody under a detainer, or for any other reason which might indicate that the inmate should not be released until the inmate’s scheduled release date.] For release of District of Columbia inmates, refer to the District of Columbia Sentence Computation Manual. 2. SUMMARY OF CHANGES. This Program Statement has been revised to provide annual discretionary authority to Wardens to allow an additional Lump Sum Award for “old law” inmates with projected release dates during the period of December 11 through January 2. Previously, an Operations Memorandum was issued annually to convey this discretionary authority to Wardens. 3. PROGRAM OBJECTIVE. The expected result of this program is: Whenever possible, inmates will be released on the last preceding weekday if their projected release date falls on a weekend or legal holiday.

4. DIRECTIVES AFFECTED

a. Directive Rescinded

PS 5140.32 Release of Inmates Prior to a Weekend or Legal Holiday (10/22/99) [Bracketed Bold – Rules] Regular Type – Implementing Information

PS 5140.36

11/23/2001 Page 2

b. Directives Referenced

PS 5800.07 Inmate Systems Management Manual (12/24/91) PS 5880.28 Sentence Computation Manual (CCCA of 1984)(9/21/92) PS 5880.30 Sentence Computation Manual (“Old Law” Pre-

CCCA-1984) (7/16/93)

PS 5880.32 District of Columbia Sentence Computation Manual (1/23/01)

c. Rules cited in this Program Statement are contained in

28 CFR 571.30.

d. Rules referenced in this Program Statement are contained in

28 CFR 2.2 and 2.29(c).

5. STANDARDS REFERENCED

a. American Correctional Association 3rd Edition Standards for

Adult Correctional Institutions: 3–4094

b. American Correctional Association 3rd Edition Standards for

Adult Local Detention Facilities: 3-ALDF-1E-03

c. American Correctional Association 2nd Edition Standards for

Administration of Correctional Agencies: 2-CO-1E-05 6. MCC/MDC/FDC/FTC PROCEDURES. Procedures in this Program Statement apply to Metropolitan Correctional Centers, Metropolitan Detention Centers, Federal Detention Centers, and Federal Transportation Centers. 7. RESPONSIBILITIES. Wardens and Community Corrections Managers must establish a system that allows for routine consideration of an inmate’s weekday release when his or her release date falls on a weekend or legal holiday. 8. OLD LAW RELEASES. [a. The release authority for inmates convicted of offenses occurring prior to November 1, 1987 is pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §4163. The number of days used under 18 U.S.C. §4163 may not be added to the number of days remaining to be served to release an inmate “as if . . . on parole” (18 U.S.C. §4164) who would otherwise have been released by expiration of sentence.]

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a. Similar procedures also apply to inmates released on

parole, yet the number of days remaining upon release will be adjusted to reflect the early release (see the Sentence Computation Manual (“Old Law” Pre-CCCA-1984) and 28 CFR 2.29(c)).

b. An inmate may not be released under the provisions of

18 U.S.C. §4163 on the last preceding weekday if the actual release date falls before the minimum parole eligibility date as defined in 28 CFR 2.2 (e.g., when an inmate’s actual parole eligibility date falls on a Saturday, the inmate may not be released on the preceding Friday).

c. Each year, at the Warden’s discretion, a Lump Sum Award

(LSA) may be granted to achieve an earlier release for those inmates who have a scheduled Expiration or Mandatory Release date falling on December 11 through January 2. Such a grant will be made, provided, # the individual inmate’s conduct or adjustment supports such an award under the provisions of the Sentence Computation Manual (“Old Law” Pre-CCCA of 1984), # the grant does not exceed the statutory maximum for Extra Good Time (18 U.S.C. §4162), and # the inmate is not sentenced under the CCCA (see below).

d. Release on the workday preceding a holiday or weekend does

not require the application of the above bulleted guidelines, as 18 U.S.C. §4163, 28 CFR 571.30, and the Sentence Computation Manual (“Old Law” Pre-CCCA of 1984) authorize such a release. 9. NEW LAW RELEASES. [b. The release authority for inmates sentenced under the provisions of the Sentencing Reform Act of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 for offenses committed on/or after November 1, 1987 is pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3624(a).]

a. Any “new law” federal prisoner whose release date falls on

a weekend or legal holiday may be released on the last preceding weekday.

b. When an inmate is released on the last preceding weekday

before a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, any term of supervised release is to begin on the day the inmate is actually released from custody and runs concurrently with any Federal, state, or local term of probation or supervised release or parole (18 U.S.C. §3624(e)).

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c. The provisions of this rule apply to all “new law” federal

inmates incarcerated in Bureau institutions and contract facilities. /s/ Kathleen Hawk Sawyer Director

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