The amount of student benefits may be affected if the student is imprisoned or under a sentence of confinement due to a conviction for a criminal offense.
A crime is a criminal offense if it is considered to be a criminal offense under applicable law. Most states define certain crimes as criminal offenses. However, some states and foreign countries do not classify crimes as criminal offenses. If a crime has not been classified as a criminal offense, it is still considered to be a criminal offense if it is a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for more than one year.
To be imprisoned or under a sentence of confinement means confinement to a jail, prison or other penal institution or correctional facility. This includes any facility, which is under the control and jurisdiction of a penal system, or any facility in which a person may be confined. This also includes hospitals, institutions and halfway houses, which are used as places of confinement. Persons under sentence of confinement to any of these facilities are considered confined even though they may go outside the facility to work, attend school or for some other reason.
Prisoners who are released on parole or because their sentence has ended, been suspended or overturned are no longer considered to be confined or imprisoned.