What is the difference between federal parole and “mandatory release”?

If you are never granted parole during your prison sentence, you will be released through “Mandatory Release” (unless you have forfeited all your statutory “good time credits”). The institution’s officials set your Mandatory Release date by calculating how much statutory “good time” credit you have a legal right to, and how much extra “good time” is earned.

The law states that if you are entitled to Mandatory Release, you must “be treated as if released on parole” and are “subject to all provisions of the law relating to the parole of United States prisoners until the expiration of the maximum term or terms for which [you were] sentenced, less 180 days.” What this really means is that you should have a release plan (see question above) as if you were going out on parole. You will also be supervised by a U.S. Probation Officer as if on federal parole until 180 days before the end date of your sentence—so long as you don’t violate the conditions of your mandatory release, in which case the U.S. Parole Commission (USPC) can hold you under supervision until the original full term date of the sentence.