Estill Projected and Actual Dates
KOOL, the Kentucky Offender Online Lookup, uses the exact field label Projected Release Date From/To. The date is DOC's current calculation from the sentence information and credits recorded in its system. It can help answer when a state prisoner may reach a calculated endpoint. It is not an appointment for release, a promise from Three Forks, or proof that all custody will end.
A pretrial Three Forks detainee generally has no computed prison release date. Bond, recognizance, dismissal, a court order, time served, or another case may decide the outcome. A local misdemeanant's date depends on the judgment and the responsible jail. A state-sentenced felon can be housed at Three Forks yet still receive DOC sentence-credit treatment and appear in KOOL. Classification, not just the building, determines the right path.
Find an Estill Projected Date
For a Kentucky state sentence, start with KOOL. The DOC FAQ recommends using as little search data as needed because an incorrect extra field can exclude the right person. Search by last name and enough first-name detail to find likely results. Then confirm with a DOC or PID number. County of Supervision, Supervision Status, and Location Type can help distinguish an Estill field-office record from prison or jail custody.
- Find the right KOOL record by name, then confirm the DOC or PID number.
- Record the Projected Release Date and the date the page was accessed.
- Check the conviction and offense date because the law in force for the offense may control.
- Review the Parole Board path if parole eligibility is relevant.
- After the expected date, check the DOC Daily Releases archive.
- For a disputed computation, use DOC records and the sentencing court process.
For a local sentence or unresolved pretrial case, call Three Forks at 606-464-2598 and request the existing booking-release or sentence record. Compare it with the Estill court record. The court supplies the judgment, jail-credit ruling, bond action, or later order. The jail supplies the physical custody event. Neither should be inferred from roster disappearance.
Estill Release Credits and Calculation
KRS 197.045 governs state-prison sentence credits. It requires qualifying prior-confinement credit as specified in KRS 532.120. It also provides credits for approved education and vocational achievements and allows credits for approved treatment, evidence-based, promising-practice, or life-skills programs within the statute's terms. Program completion must be approved and recorded.
The statute says a qualifying prisoner may receive good-behavior credit of no more than ten days for each month served, as DOC determines from conduct. It also authorizes limited discretionary credit for exceptionally meritorious or emergency service. “May” is not automatic. Credits can be forfeited, and a corrected calculation can move the projected release date later. Subtracting a fixed number of days from a sentence is not a sound substitute for the official record.
KRS 532.120 addresses imprisonment terms and qualifying custody credit. In felony cases, DOC generally calculates that credit. A dispute follows administrative remedies and, when permitted, a motion in the sentencing court within the statute's time limit. Time tied to another charge, warrant, jurisdiction, or an escape can affect the answer. Booking date alone cannot safely produce a release date.
Why Estill Release Dates Move
Several lawful events can change a projection or cause custody to continue after one sentence ends. The responsible agency must apply the actual sentence, credits, and holds.
| Factor | Possible effect |
|---|---|
| Prior-custody credit | Can reduce the unserved term when it qualifies and is awarded. |
| Approved program or education credit | Can move a qualifying state prison calculation earlier. |
| Good conduct or forfeiture | DOC awards within statutory limits and may forfeit credit. |
| Court action | An amended, vacated, or additional sentence can change the calculation. |
| Parole or shock probation | May end confinement before sentence completion if lawfully granted. |
| Detainer or another sentence | Can prevent community release after one term reaches its endpoint. |
| Data correction | DOC may revise a projection when the underlying record changes. |
KOOL warns that it updates data daily to improve accuracy, does not guarantee accuracy, and may not have finalized newer information. Record the access date and exact label. If a result changes, request the underlying DOC computation and compare the sentencing order rather than relying on an old screen.
Confirm an Estill Release Event
The DOC Daily Releases report is the best public event cross-check for a DOC-system release. A dated row can show DOC number, name, release type, released-from facility, and highest felony class. It may name a county or regional jail because Kentucky houses sentenced state felons in local beds. Its absence does not disprove a Three Forks bond release, because an ordinary pretrial release falls outside that report's scope.
Register through the Estill County VINE inmate check when prompt notice matters, but corroborate the alert. VINE may report a transfer, and Kentucky experienced false release alerts during a data problem. For local custody, obtain the Three Forks booking-release sheet and Estill court order. For state custody, pair KOOL with the dated release report and DOC records.
Note: Label every date by its meaning; parole eligibility, projected release, actual release, and final discharge answer different questions.
Four Estill Release Date Types
Keeping four concepts side by side prevents a common error. Each marks a different point in Kentucky's sentence and release process.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Projected Release Date | KOOL's current calculated date based on recorded sentence data and credits. |
| Parole Eligibility | The point when an eligible case may be considered, not a release appointment. |
| Mandatory Reentry Supervision | For a qualifying person, physical release into supervised status before projected completion. |
| Final discharge or maximum expiration | The end of sentence or Board authority, not merely the end of confinement. |
KRS 439.3406 directs mandatory reentry supervision six months before projected completion for qualifying people not granted discretionary parole, subject to statutory exclusions. MRS is treated as parole. It ends physical confinement while sentence authority continues.
Estill Violent-Offender Release Limits
KRS 439.3401 imposes an 85-percent minimum for a person legally classified as a violent offender under the applicable term-of-years rule. It does not apply to every felon. The official text reviewed was effective July 15, 2026, and older versions or offense-date clauses can govern earlier crimes.
Current subsection (5) limits sentence credit for covered violent offenders to the specified prior-confinement credit. Certain capital and Class A life cases require at least twenty years. Other offense rules can add minimums or bar parole. The correct result depends on the conviction, offense date, sentence, and law that applies to that case.
Estill Regional-Jail Date Quirk
A sentenced Kentucky felon can remain at Three Forks while receiving DOC sentence-credit treatment. 501 KAR 2:060 provides a process for qualified state inmates housed in jails to receive good time or sentence credit. DOC-approved jail programming may also matter. The person can therefore have a KOOL projection and later appear in a DOC Daily Releases report without having lived in a state-prison building.
Those state-felon rules should not be applied to an ordinary county misdemeanor. No Three Forks-specific weekend-release practice or local good-time schedule was found. Do not invent a Friday release when a projected date falls on a weekend. Ask the facility for the applicable policy and individual record.
Estill Parole Before Completion
KRS 439.340 allows parole consideration for eligible people in state institutions and sentenced felons in county jails. Under the current provision cited in the research, a nonviolent Class D felon with an aggregate one-to-five-year sentence receives review after fifteen percent or two months, whichever is longer. Review is not a grant. Eligibility is only the point when the Board may consider the case.
A grant may still depend on program completion, release planning, another minimum, victim notice, a detainer, or administrative work. A published hearing schedule is planning information, not proof of release. Confirm the actual event in DOC Daily Releases, then use the final order when the exact Board action matters. A denial or deferment can leave the KOOL projection unchanged or make another date more relevant.
Shock probation follows a court order, not a Parole Board grant. Conditional discharge, MRS, minimum expiration, and sentence expiration also have distinct meanings in DOC reports. Copy the exact release type rather than compressing all of them into “paroled.”
Dispute an Estill Release Date
A discrepancy should be separated into source parts. Ask DOC for the sentence calculation and recorded credits. Obtain the judgment and later orders from the sentencing court. Ask Three Forks for its admission, release, transfer, and jail-credit records when the regional stay matters. Each custodian can correct its own data; a court clerk cannot rewrite KOOL, and DOC cannot alter a court judgment without legal authority.
Kentucky DOC accepts offender-record requests through its Open Records Coordinator by email at correctionsopenrecords@ky.gov, by mail at P.O. Box 2400, Frankfort, KY 40602, or by fax at 502-564-9575. Published copy costs include ten cents per released paper page, with separate media and postage costs. Kentucky's cited process has a five-business-day response period, though the response may grant, deny, seek clarification, or explain production timing.
Be precise. State the DOC or PID number, conviction county, sentence, disputed field, and the record believed to support correction. Do not ask the agency to guess which date is meant. “Projected Release Date” and “actual release date” require different evidence.
A release-date request should also identify whether the desired endpoint is parole eligibility, projected completion, minimum expiration, actual physical release, or final discharge. Those dates may all appear in one custody history and still answer different questions. Ask for the field definition when an agency abbreviation is unclear. If another jurisdiction has a detainer, request that custodian's record before concluding the person will enter the community.
Keep the evidence in date order. Save the judgment and credit ruling first, then the current KOOL projection, any Board or court action, and finally the actual event record. This sequence reveals whether a date moved because the legal sentence changed, credits changed, or an early-release authority acted. It also prevents an old projected date from being presented after DOC corrected the record.
For each check, record the source, access date, identifier, and exact label so a later update can be compared without guesswork.