Check the prison's math in New York

1. Get the official document

Official name: unknown. We did not find the document's name in an official source. Ask the records office for "the official time computation" or "time sheet."

Usually the incarcerated person can ask the records office or their counselor for it with a written request. Families often cannot get it directly; the person can share their copy.

Official online lookup (some dates appear here): [DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup] (opens in new tab)

2. Which credits should appear

• Good time (Penal Law §70.40, Correction Law §803): the conditional release date is one-third off the maximum for indeterminate sentences and one-seventh off for determinate sentences, unless good time is lost. [NYS DOCCS: Serving a Sentence (good time, merit time, conditional release)] (opens in new tab)
• Merit time: one-sixth off the minimum (one-third for A-I drug felonies) on indeterminate sentences, or one-seventh off determinate terms. Requires a GED, a treatment or vocational certificate, or 400 hours of work-crew service, and no serious infractions. [NYS DOCCS: Serving a Sentence (good time, merit time, conditional release)] (opens in new tab)
• Supplemental merit time: another one-sixth for certain A-II through E drug felonies. [NYS DOCCS: Serving a Sentence (good time, merit time, conditional release)] (opens in new tab)
• Limited Credit Time Allowance: 6 months for some non-merit-eligible people who complete significant programs. [NYS DOCCS: Serving a Sentence (good time, merit time, conditional release)] (opens in new tab)

Full credit rules

3. Common-errors checklist

• Jail (pretrial) credit: days spent in county jail before sentencing are missing or miscounted. Compare with the jail booking record and the judgment.
• Sentence start date: the computation begins on the wrong day.
• Concurrent vs. consecutive: the judgment says one thing and the computation does the other.
• Multiple cases: credit applied to the wrong case, or a case missing. Rules on splitting credit between cases vary by state.
• Earned credits not posted: months of work, school or programs, or completed certificates, do not appear.
• Losses and restorations: credits taken without a finished disciplinary hearing, or restored credits never added back.
• Wrong law version: credit rules applied from a different date than the offense date.
• Revocation time: time on parole or supervision handled differently than the rules say.
• Detainers or holds: another case or agency may keep the person past the computed date (see detainers).
• Typos: sentence length, number of counts, or dates copied wrong from the judgment.

Have ready: the judgment, jail booking records, program certificates and disciplinary decisions.

4. If you find an error

• Write to the records office naming the exact error, with copies (never originals).
• If it is not fixed, use the agency's official grievance or dispute process.
• If the error is in the judgment itself (for example jail credit), the court may need to correct it. Talk to a lawyer or the public defender.

OutSooner explains the process; it does not prepare legal filings.

Getting lost good time restored · Make a release plan · Eligibility pre-check