diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c
index 03e6bd8a1a42..f8f0e1c19002 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler/sched_main.c
@@ -293,8 +293,10 @@ static void drm_sched_job_timedout(struct work_struct *work)
 	 * Guilty job did complete and hence needs to be manually removed
 	 * See drm_sched_stop doc.
 	 */
-	if (list_empty(&job->node))
+	if (sched->free_guilty) {
 		job->sched->ops->free_job(job);
+		sched->free_guilty = false;
+	}
 
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&sched->job_list_lock, flags);
 	drm_sched_start_timeout(sched);
@@ -395,10 +397,13 @@ void drm_sched_stop(struct drm_gpu_scheduler *sched, struct drm_sched_job *bad)
 
 			/*
 			 * We must keep bad job alive for later use during
-			 * recovery by some of the drivers
+			 * recovery by some of the drivers but leave a hint
+			 * that the guilty job must be released.
 			 */
 			if (bad != s_job)
 				sched->ops->free_job(s_job);
+			else
+				sched->free_guilty = true;
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/include/drm/gpu_scheduler.h b/include/drm/gpu_scheduler.h
index 9ee0f2735d71..57b4121c750a 100644
--- a/include/drm/gpu_scheduler.h
+++ b/include/drm/gpu_scheduler.h
@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@ struct drm_sched_backend_ops {
  *              guilty and it will be considered for scheduling further.
  * @num_jobs: the number of jobs in queue in the scheduler
  * @ready: marks if the underlying HW is ready to work
+ * @free_guilty: A hit to time out handler to free the guilty job.
  *
  * One scheduler is implemented for each hardware ring.
  */
@@ -279,6 +280,7 @@ struct drm_gpu_scheduler {
 	int				hang_limit;
 	atomic_t                        num_jobs;
 	bool			ready;
+	bool				free_guilty;
 };
 
 int drm_sched_init(struct drm_gpu_scheduler *sched,