Text of the provision

Art. 97. Allowance for good conduct. – The good conduct of any offender qualified for credit for preventive imprisonment pursuant to Article 29 of this Code, or of any convicted prisoner in any penal institution, rehabilitation or detention center or any other local jail shall entitle him to the following deductions from the period of his sentence: 1. During the first two years of imprisonment, he shall be allowed a deduction of twenty days for each month of good behavior during detention; 2. During the third to the fifth year, inclusive, of his imprisonment, he shall be allowed a reduction of twenty-three days for each month of good behavior during detention; 3. During the following years until the tenth year, inclusive, of his imprisonment, he shall be allowed a deduction of twenty-five days for each month of good behavior during detention; 4. During the eleventh and successive years of his imprisonment, he shall be allowed a deduction of thirty days for each month of good behavior during detention; and 5. At any time during the period of imprisonment, he shall be allowed another deduction of fifteen days, in addition to numbers one to four hereof, for each month of study, teaching or mentoring service time rendered. An appeal by the accused shall not deprive him of entitlement to the above allowances for good conduct.

Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, Act No. 3815, as amended by Republic Act No. 10592 (2013). Reproduced in full from the text of the amending Act itself, verified word for word against the LawPhil and Official Gazette renderings of that Act. ChanRobles does not carry this Act.

What this article means

Time off a sentence for good behaviour, on a rising scale. As amended by Republic Act No. 10592 (2013) the deduction is twenty days for each month of good behaviour during the first two years, twenty-three days from the third to the fifth year, twenty-five days until the tenth year, and thirty days from the eleventh year onward, with a further fifteen days a month for study, teaching or mentoring service. The same Act extended the allowance to a detainee entitled to credit for preventive imprisonment under Article 29, and provided that an appeal does not forfeit it. Reproductions that still print five, eight, ten and fifteen days are giving you the 1930 scale.

Questions about this provision

Questions about this provision

Related provisions

This is the amended text. The text above is the article as amended by Republic Act No. 10592 (2013), taken from the text of that Act itself. What that Act changed here is the good conduct time allowance — the days deducted from a sentence for each month of good behaviour. Reproductions of the Revised Penal Code still print the 1930 scale of five, eight, ten and fifteen days; the Act raised those to twenty, twenty-three, twenty-five and thirty, and added a further allowance for study, teaching or mentoring service. It also extended the allowance to detainees credited with preventive imprisonment. Check which version any source you rely on is giving you.

Cases interpreting this article

Note. The text of the provision above is not taken from the reproductions of the Revised Penal Code. Republic Act No. 10592 (2013) rewrote this article, and the widely-circulated compilations still print the 1930 text without saying so, so the text above is reproduced from the amending Act itself and was verified word for word against two independent renderings of that Act. The annotation and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. How a provision applies to a particular situation depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your case can assess.