When are you released on a 21 year sentence?

Answer 1

At the time of sentencing, the judge will pronounce two periods of time: a minimum and a maximum. for instance, an offender may be given a sentence of 10 to 40 years. The ten years is the minimum, and in Truth in Sentencing states, that offender will do ten years before ever being considered for parole. In states where administrative "good time" is still given, the offender with a ten year sentence could do as little as five years before being considered for parole. It all depends upon the sentencing statutes of the state in which the offender was convicted.

Also, when the offender is delivered to the DOC in your state, the paperwork that accompanies him will display a "Conditional Release Date." This is the soonest he can be considered for parole. It is possible also that in some states the judge may pronounce a "flat" sentence, that is only one period of time will be mentioned in the sentence, say ten years. Depending on the sentencing laws of that state, the offender may have to do the full sentence and discharge from prison at the end with no parole, or he could be held on parole for a determined or indeterminate amount of time. The law is capricious about sentencing.