Scheduled Date vs Actual Release
A scheduled release date is a planning or computation date. An actual release is the custody event that has already happened and can be confirmed through the agency that held the person, the court order that caused release, VINE notification data, or post-release supervision records. For a Butler County jail booking, the jail and sheriff records are the local starting point. For a state sentence from Butler County, ADOC may show the current state-prison computation before release, while the Butler County Circuit Clerk record can explain sentence terms, jail credit, and later amendments.
A pretrial detainee generally does not have a computed release date. Their release turns on bond, recognizance, dismissal, court order, transfer, or another case event. If the person is in the Butler County Correctional Facility, use the jail phone, sheriff records, Alabama VINE, and the Butler County court file rather than expecting ADOC to calculate a county-jail release date.
ADOC Search Steps
Use ADOC when the person is a current Alabama state inmate. ADOC says its public inmate search contains currently incarcerated inmates only and that historical data is not available online, so it is not a complete released-inmate archive after the person leaves state custody.
- Open the ADOC inmate search.
- Search by AIS number if known. ADOC treats the six-digit AIS number as the unique state inmate number, and it takes priority over name fields.
- If AIS is unknown, search by first name, last name, or both. ADOC displays no more than 50 results, so common names may require better spelling, AIS, or court identifiers.
- Select the matching current inmate record and read the date fields using ADOC's labels.
- Compare the ADOC record with the Butler County sentencing case if Butler County is the commit county or the jail-credit paperwork came from the Butler County Circuit Clerk.
- If the person no longer appears in ADOC, do not assume release from that fact alone. Check ADOC public records, ABPP supervision, Alabama VINE, and the sentencing court.
| ADOC Field | What It Means for a Butler County Search |
|---|---|
| Minimum Release Date | ADOC's earliest scheduled date for release to probation or end of sentence. This is the Alabama field to read when a user asks for a projected release date. |
| Parole Consideration Date | The tentative date set by the Parole Board for possible consideration. It is not a release date and does not guarantee a hearing, grant, or same-day release. |
| Jail Credit | Time spent in county jail before sentencing. ADOC says the sentencing county circuit clerk prepares it, so Butler County jail-credit disputes may require the clerk file. |
| Good Time Received / Good Time Revoked | Sentence deductions earned and deductions removed. These fields help explain why the Minimum Release Date moved. |
| Type | Whether sentences are consecutive or concurrent. Consecutive sentences are served in sequence, while concurrent sentences are combined for calculation. |
Minimum Release Date
Alabama's official date vocabulary matters. ADOC defines Minimum Release Date as the earliest scheduled date an inmate can be released to probation or end of sentence. It can change if disciplinary action takes away good time or if the circuit clerk sends new cases or changes the current sentence. For a Butler County sentence, that means the state-prison record and the Butler County court file may both be needed to understand the date.
The Minimum Release Date is not the same thing as a public statement that the person is already out. Before release, it is a computed date. After release, a user should verify the actual status through VINE, ABPP if the person is supervised, ADOC records for historical state files, or the court record that shows sentence completion or a release-related order.
Parole Consideration Date
The Parole Consideration Date is different. ADOC defines it as the tentative date set by the Parole Board. ABPP calculates eligibility under Ala. Code § 15-22-28(e), but eligibility is not entitlement to release. Sentence length, offense type, jail credit, good-time ability, time served, and court orders can affect the date.
For listed Class A felonies committed on or after March 21, 2001, Alabama law sets initial parole consideration after completion of 85 percent of the total sentence or 15 years, whichever is less. For other prisoners, the statute generally uses one-third of the sentence or 10 years, whichever is less, subject to the statute's other rules. A parole hearing result still has to be checked through ABPP, and a grant still requires release planning before the actual release occurs.
Good-Time Credit Rules
Alabama Code § 14-9-41, the Correctional Incentive Time Act, is the main good-time statute for this page. It sets earning classes: Class I may earn 30 days for each 30 days actually served, Class II may earn 15 days for each 30 days actually served, Class III may earn 5 days for each 30 days actually served, and Class IV earns no correctional incentive time. The statute also contains exclusions and forfeiture rules.
Important exclusions include Class A felony convictions, crimes causing death by deadly weapon, life or death sentences, sentences over 15 years, and child sex offenses as defined in the statute. Serious violations and disciplinary action can also cause forfeiture or end future earning. Because those facts are sentence-specific, a page or search result should not estimate a Butler County release date by simple arithmetic.
Reasons Dates Change
A release-date lookup should be treated as a status check, not a permanent answer. ADOC definitions, ABPP guidance, and Alabama statutes all point to several reasons a scheduled date can change before the actual release.
| Reason | What to Check | Effect on the Date |
|---|---|---|
| Good-time loss or forfeiture | ADOC Good Time Revoked field, disciplinary records, Ala. Code § 14-9-41 | Can push the Minimum Release Date later or change future earning ability. |
| Jail credit correction | Butler County Circuit Clerk sentencing file and jail-credit paperwork | Can move the date earlier or later if pre-sentence custody credit is corrected. |
| New case or amended sentence | Circuit clerk filings, ADOC case fields, sentencing orders | Can add custody time, change the controlling term, or correct the existing sentence. |
| Consecutive or concurrent calculation | ADOC Type field and sentencing orders | Consecutive terms can extend the release computation; concurrent terms may combine. |
| Parole denied, reset, granted, or delayed | ABPP scheduled hearings, results, minutes, and Public Information Unit | A consideration date may pass without release; a grant may still require home-plan verification and ADOC coordination. |
| Mandatory-release eligibility or exclusion | ADOC eligibility and ABPP mandatory-supervision information under Ala. Code § 15-22-26.2 | May create a supervised-release window or exclude the person from that process. |
| Transfer or other agency hold | Jail release record, VINE, receiving agency, court docket, BOP or ICE when relevant | May end one custody record without meaning the person is free from all custody. |
Butler County Jail Dates
The Butler County Correctional Facility is operated by the Butler County Sheriff's Office at 801 Walnut Street in Greenville. The research found no official Butler County weekend-release rule, no county-specific public good-time policy, and no confirmed release-date field in the sheriff app feed. If the question is an exact county-jail release time, contact the Butler County Jail at (334) 382-3321 or the sheriff office at (334) 382-6521 and ask for custody status, release confirmation, and the process for a written booking or release-record request.
For a jail release caused by bond, dismissal, sentence, probation, time served, warrant recall, or a transfer, the durable explanation is usually in the Butler County court record. The Butler County Circuit Court is at 700 Court Square in Greenville, and Alacourt ACCESS can provide trial-court search access. Look for the event that caused custody to change rather than expecting every docket to use the word "released."
Confirm the Actual Release
Use Alabama VINE / VINELink for custody-change alerts, especially when a release is expected but has not happened yet. Search for the exact person, select the correct record, review the custody status and facility, and register for notifications if the interface offers that option. VINE is an alert and custody-status layer, not a court disposition record.
For an ADOC inmate who was sentenced from Butler County, combine the ADOC search with ADOC public records, ABPP records if there is supervision, VINE status, and the Butler County sentencing file. ADOC public-records requests must be written on Form 23-A and submitted to the Public Records Coordinator; the form route includes email to public.records@doc.alabama.gov, mail, or hand delivery, and ADOC says telephone and fax requests are not accepted.