18 U.S.C. § 3585
Section 3585 · Calculation of a term of imprisonment
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 1,154 court decisions — leading case United States v. Mead Corp. (2001)
Most recently applied in Julio Davila v. Nicholas Deml (July 2025)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (79 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 2241 · 18 U.S.C. § 3553 · 28 U.S.C. § 1291
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Commencement of Sentence.—A sentence to a term of imprisonment commences on the date the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to, or arrives voluntarily to commence service of sentence at, the official detention facility at which the sentence is to be served.
(b) Credit for Prior Custody.—A defendant shall be given credit toward the service of a term of imprisonment for any time he has spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences—
(1) as a result of the offense for which the sentence was imposed; or
(2) as a result of any other charge for which the defendant was arrested after the commission of the offense for which the sentence was imposed;
that has not been credited against another sentence.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Effective Date
Section effective Nov. 1, 1987, and applicable only to offenses committed after the taking effect of this section, see section 235(a)(1) of Pub. L. 98–473, set out as a note under section 3551 of this title.