Title 41, Correctional Institutions and Inmates

The authority shall be considered a governmental entity for purposes of the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, compiled in title 29, chapter 20.

The authority shall be considered a public agency for purposes of the Interlocal Cooperation Act, compiled in title 12, chapter 9.

The records of the authority shall be open to public inspection in accordance with the open records laws, compiled in title 10, chapter 7, part 5.

If any law or private act conflicts with this chapter, this chapter shall prevail.

This chapter is remedial in nature and shall be liberally construed to effect its stated purposes and the powers granted in this chapter may be exercised without regard to requirements, restrictions or procedural provisions contained in any other law or charter except as expressl…

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Board” means the inmate disciplinary oversight board;(2) “Commissioner” means the commissioner of correction;(3) “Department” means the department of correction;(4) “Executive director” means the officer employed by the board as the chief administrat…

(a) There is created a full-time, autonomous inmate disciplinary oversight board. The purpose of the board is to review the grant, denial, and removal of inmate sentence credits by a warden for good institutional behavior and to determine whether sentence credits previously award…

(a) The board has those powers and duties necessary and proper to enable the board to fully and effectively carry out this part, including, but not limited to:(1) The authority to select and recommend to the appropriate state officials the employment or transfer of all personnel …

(a) The permanent office of the board is in Nashville. (b) The board shall meet at least monthly at a time and place prescribed by the board. The board must take all votes by public ballot or public roll call. Secret ballots or secret roll calls are not permitted. (c) The salary …

The warden of each prison and all officers and employees of each prison and all other public officials shall at all times cooperate with the board and shall furnish to the board, its officers, and employees information as may be necessary to enable the board to perform its functi…

Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, the department of correction is responsible for calculating the sentence expiration date and the earliest release date of a felony offender sentenced to the department of correction and a felony offender sentenced to confinement in a c…

The commissioner of correction shall designate some official or employee, or may appoint some other suitable person, to go after inmates, at the places of their conviction, and to take the inmates to such places as the commissioner may direct.

Inmates sentenced to the penitentiary for life, or any term of time, by any court of this state or of the United States held within this state, shall be received into the penitentiary by the warden of the penitentiary, when delivered upon proper authority, and there kept in pursu…

The warden shall also receive into the penitentiary, under the order of the governor, any person convicted of any crime punishable with death or other punishment, where the sentence is commuted to imprisonment, either for life or a term of years in the penitentiary, and confine t…

A certified copy of the sentence shall be delivered with each inmate to the warden of the penitentiary and registered in a book kept by the warden for that purpose.

(a) (1) Clerks of the criminal and circuit courts of the state are required to furnish the wardens of the state prisons certified copies of all indictments against persons convicted in those courts and sentenced to state prison, at the same time the clerk furnishes the warden cop…

Wardens and superintendents shall report the confinement of first term inmates to the division of rehabilitative services within twenty-four (24) hours following the inmates' arrival.

(a) It is the duty of the warden of the Tennessee state penitentiary upon the reception of any inmate to:(1) Take a complete description of the inmate;(2) Take the inmate's fingerprints and photograph;(3) Record the county in which convicted, the nature of the crime and the perio…

The baggage and person of the inmate shall also be carefully searched and every instrument taken from the inmate by which the inmate may effect an escape.

To prevent the introduction of contagious disorders, the warden shall cause every person sentenced to the penitentiary to be washed, cleansed and kept entirely apart from the other inmates until it is certified by the physician that the inmate may be permitted to join them in lab…

The warden is charged with the duty of treating the inmates with humanity and kindness and protecting them from harsh and cruel treatment and overwork.

The inmates shall be graded and classified in such a manner as is most conducive to prison discipline and the moral status of the inmates.

(a) The warden shall set forth rules and regulations necessary to promote the health, cleanliness and physical welfare of the inmates. (b) The warden shall also adopt measures to ensure the cleanliness and sanitary condition of the institution.

(a) All inmates at their reception and at such times thereafter as may be deemed necessary shall be examined by a physician for the purpose of determining their health status. (b) The medical director shall conduct a daily outpatient clinic. Any inmate who is ill shall receive pr…

The commissioner of correction, or the commissioner's designated representative, has the duty and is so empowered to establish rules, regulations and procedures regarding the opening, inspecting and reading of mailable items and letters sent to or from any inmate. The regulations…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Custodian” means the warden of a state correctional facility;(2) “Healthcare products” includes:(A) Feminine hygiene products;(B) Moisturizing soap that is not lye-based;(C) Toothbrushes;(D) Toothpaste; and(E) Any other healthcare product a custod…

(a) All persons sentenced to the penitentiary shall be kept at labor or at school when in sufficient health. (b) The work of inmates shall be generally from six (6) to eight (8) hours per day during regular work days throughout the year and the number of hours to be worked in the…

(a) The inmates shall be worked within the walls of the prison, except when otherwise provided in this code. (b) (1) The commissioner of correction, with the approval of the governor when it appears to be in the best interests of this state, is authorized to permit inmates to wor…

No inmate under sentence for the crime of murder or rape shall be worked or hired outside of the prison bounds of the penitentiary, unless by the direction of the commissioner of correction.

The particular employment of each inmate shall be such as is best adapted to the inmate's age, sex and state of health, having due regard to that employment that is most profitable.

Each inmate shall be provided with a Bible, which the inmate may be permitted to peruse in the inmate's cell at such times as the inmate is not required to perform prison labor.

(a) It is lawful for the warden of the penitentiary, acting under and subject to the power of the commissioner of correction, to take charge of any property in the possession of any of the inmates at the time of their entering the prison, and, on the application of the inmate, to…

The funds received by the warden under § 41-21-216 are subject to the satisfaction of any judgment for fine and costs rendered against the inmate upon pronouncing sentence and to the expense of keeping the inmate, if any, over and above the inmate's labor.

Regulations provided for in this part, with all others adopted by the general assembly or the commissioner in reference to the police and government of the penitentiary, which it is necessary that the inmates should know, together with the provisions of part 4 of this chapter, §§…

(a) Each inmate housed at a department of correction institution, at the discretion of the commissioner of correction, shall be furnished at the inmate's release, either on parole or probation pursuant to § 40-20-206 or § 40-35-501(a) or when discharged without further supervisio…

The warden at the main prison or any branch prison or mine where any inmate meets with sudden death or physical injury by means of violence or accident shall, within ten (10) days after the occurrence of death or physical injury, report the death or injury to the commissioner of …

(a) Whenever an inmate dies in the penitentiary, the warden shall forthwith notify the commissioner of correction, if practicable, and summon at least one (1) licensed physician of the county of the prison to examine the body of the deceased, whose duty it is to attend and ascert…

The department of mental health and substance abuse services, as soon as it is properly staffed and equipped to examine all persons eligible for release or about to be paroled from the penal institutions of the state, upon the request of the commissioner of correction, shall exam…

If the commissioner of correction determines from an examination that a person who is in the custody of the department of correction has a mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and because of the mental illness or serious emotional disturbance poses a substantial likeli…

(a) Whenever any inmate is released by reason of the expiration of the inmate's term of imprisonment from the penitentiary, the warden shall immediately give written notice of the release to the sheriff of the county and the chief of police of the municipality to which the inmate…

All persons released on parole shall immediately register in person or by the probation and parole officer with the sheriff of the county and the chief of police of the city to which the inmate is to be released.

(a) Every inmate committed to a state penal institution shall be evaluated as to educational level and ability to learn. The report shall be made in writing by the diagnostic and classification center. (b) It is the duty of the commissioner of correction or the commissioner's des…

(a) The department of correction is authorized and empowered to grant furloughs to the inmates in the adult correction institutions administered and operated by the department. (b) Furloughs shall be granted under the rules and regulations prescribed and promulgated by the commis…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Department” means the department of correction;(2) “Formulary” means a list of prescription drugs approved for use within correctional facilities operated by or on behalf of the department; and(3) “Non-opioid medication” means a drug or biological…

(a) All inmates assigned to the custody of the department of correction shall be clothed in a uniform manufactured by TRICOR. The style and materials of the uniform shall be selected by the commissioner and shall be sufficient to distinguish the inmates from all other persons who…

(a) The department of correction, in cooperation with the department of mental health and substance abuse services, shall develop a sexual abuse treatment program for sex offenders incarcerated after the program is instituted. (b) Successful participation and completion of the tr…