Title 40, Criminal Procedure

(a) The department shall adopt a single system of graduated sanctions for violations of the conditions of community supervision. The system shall set forth a menu of presumptive sanctions for the most common types of supervision violations, including, but not limited to: failure …

For individuals placed on supervised probation, the judge of the court having jurisdiction over the case shall determine the conditions of community supervision, which shall include as a condition that the department supervising the individual may, in accordance with § 40-28-305,…

(a) Notwithstanding any rule or law to the contrary, the department may impose graduated sanctions. (b) A probation and parole officer intending to impose a graduated sanction shall issue to the supervised individual a notice of the intended sanction. The notice shall inform the …

The chief supervision officer shall review confinement sanctions recommended by probation and parole officers on a quarterly basis to assess any disparities that may exist among officers, evaluate the effectiveness of the sanction as measured by the supervised individuals' subseq…

ARTICLE I: PURPOSE The governor of this state is authorized and directed to execute a compact on behalf of the state of Tennessee with any of the United States legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:ARTICLE I: PURPOSE The compacting states to this Interstate…

(a) The governor shall establish by an executive order the following:(1) The initial composition and terms of the Tennessee council for interstate adult offender supervision required by article III, paragraph B, of the Interstate Compact for Supervision of Adult Offenders. Member…

The department of correction shall maintain a database consisting of a registry and associated information of those persons who have been placed on probation or parole in another state but are residing in Tennessee pursuant to the compact for out-of-state supervision, compiled in…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Open Parole Hearings Act.”

(a) The following requirements apply to parole board hearings:(1) In accordance with title 8, chapter 44, part 1, parole hearings and parole revocation hearings shall be open to the public, except as provided in subsection (b); and(2) The vote of each board member on each formal …

(a) The board shall establish a policy governing attendance at board hearings and submission and use of victim impact statements and other impact statements. Copies of the policy shall be available upon request. The policy must govern:(1) The requirement that those requesting not…

(a) The board shall accept and consider victim impact statements, including victim impact statement videos. (b) Written victim impact statements and victim impact statement videos are confidential and must not be made available to the public. (c) Assertions made in a victim impac…

(a) Within ninety (90) days of receipt by the department of correction of a valid judgment of conviction, the department shall notify the victim witness coordinator of the county of conviction of the currently scheduled parole hearing date when the inmate will be eligible for par…

(a) The department is charged with the duty of supervising all prisoners released on parole from the prisons of the state, workhouses, jails or those accepted through the interstate compact, and of making investigation as may be necessary in connection therewith. (b) A probation …

(a) The commissioner shall appoint a director of probation and parole who shall devote full time and capacities to the duties of the office. The director shall have at least five (5) years of related administrative experience or a bachelor's or advanced degree in any of the follo…

The commissioner shall appoint probation and parole officers who shall be supervised by the director of probation and parole. The probation and parole officers shall be placed within districts or other locations as may be designated by the commissioner, and shall devote their ful…

No person shall be eligible for the position of probation and parole officer who has not received a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university or had at least four (4) years of qualifying full-time professional experience. As used in this section, “qualifying full…

The duties of probation and parole officers shall be to supervise, investigate and check on the conduct, behavior and progress of parolees and persons placed on probation by the courts or pursuant to § 40-35-501(a)(3), and assigned to them for supervision and shall make to the di…

The director of probation and parole and the probation and parole officers shall have their compensation fixed and shall be paid as other state officials and state employees are paid.

(a) If the probation and parole officer having charge of a paroled prisoner has reasonable cause to believe that the prisoner has violated the conditions of parole in an important respect, the officer shall report the facts to the director of probation and parole. The director or…

The director may relieve a prisoner on parole from making further reports and may permit the prisoner to leave the state or county, if satisfied that this is for the best interests of society.

(a) Whenever the director is satisfied that a parolee has kept the conditions of parole in a satisfactory manner, the director shall issue to the parolee a certificate of final discharge. This final discharge from parole will be granted only after a parolee has completed the maxi…

(a) In addition to any other terms or conditions of probation, the trial judge may provide that probationers sentenced to a period of time of not less than one (1) year nor more than six (6) years on probation as a condition of probation must satisfactorily complete a program of …

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Citizenship rights” and “rights of citizenship” include:(A) The right to serve on a jury;(B) The right of suffrage;(C) The right to hold public office;(D) The right to execute a fiduciary office; and(E) The right to possess a firearm;(2) “Court costs…

(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), a person rendered infamous or deprived of rights of citizenship by the judgment of any state or federal court is eligible to seek restoration of rights of citizenship by petitioning the circuit court of the county where the petit…

(a) A petition for restoration of rights of citizenship must:(1) Set forth the basis for the petitioner's eligibility for restoration, including:(A) A list of each state and federal felony conviction of the petitioner;(B) Whether the petitioner is eligible to have the right of su…

The administrative office of the courts, in consultation with the secretary of state and other entities as deemed appropriate by the administrative office of the courts, shall develop a petition for restoration of citizenship rights form and an order granting restoration of citiz…

(a) When any nonviolent offender who was convicted of an infamous crime is granted final release from incarceration or discharged from parole, probation, pretrial or judicial diversion or community correction supervision, the sentencing court, department of correction and board o…

(a) A person may petition the court for a certificate of employability either in conjunction with or independently of petitioning the court for restoration of the person's rights of citizenship. (b) A petition for a certificate of employability filed under subsection (a) shall be…

(a) In any proceeding on a claim against a landlord for negligence in renting, leasing, or otherwise extending housing opportunities to a person who has been previously convicted of a criminal offense, a landlord is not liable based solely upon the fact that the person has been p…

(a) A cause of action may not be brought against an employer or contracting party for negligent hiring, training, retention, or supervision of an employee or independent contractor based solely upon the fact that the employee or independent contractor has been previously convicte…

This part shall be known and may be referred to as the “Post-Conviction Procedure Act.”

(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), a person in custody under a sentence of a court of this state must petition for post-conviction relief under this part within one (1) year of the date of the final action of the highest state appellate court to which an appeal is…

Relief under this part shall be granted when the conviction or sentence is void or voidable because of the abridgment of any right guaranteed by the Constitution of Tennessee or the Constitution of the United States.

(a) A post-conviction proceeding is commenced by filing, with the clerk of the court in which the conviction occurred, a written petition naming the state as the respondent. No filing fee shall be charged. Petitions challenging misdemeanor convictions not in a court of record sha…

(a) When in receipt of a petition applying for post-conviction relief, the clerk of the trial court shall forthwith:(1) Make three (3) copies of the petition;(2) Docket and file the original petition and its attachments;(3) Mail one (1) copy of the petition to the attorney genera…

(a) The trial judge to whom the case is assigned shall, within thirty (30) days of the filing of the original petition, or a petition amended in accordance with subsection (d), examine it together with all the files, records, transcripts, and correspondence relating to the judgme…

(a) If the petition is not dismissed upon preliminary consideration, the court shall enter a preliminary order. (b) In all cases, the preliminary order shall direct the following:(1) If a petitioner not represented by counsel requests counsel and the court is satisfied that the p…

(a) The district attorney general shall represent the state except as provided in § 40-30-114(c). The state shall file an answer or other responsive pleading within thirty (30) days, unless extended for good cause. Good cause will not be met by a routine statement that the press …

(a) The court shall review the case after the district attorney general's response is filed. If, on reviewing the petition, the response, files, and records, the court determines conclusively that the petitioner is entitled to no relief, the court shall dismiss the petition. The …

(a) The petitioner shall appear and give testimony at the evidentiary hearing if the petition raises substantial questions of fact as to events in which the petitioner participated, unless the petitioner is incarcerated out of state, in which case the trial judge may permit the i…

(a) If the court finds that there was such a denial or infringement of the rights of the prisoner as to render the judgment void or voidable, including a finding that trial counsel was ineffective on direct appeal, the court shall vacate and set aside the judgment or order a dela…

The clerk of the court shall send a copy of the final judgment to the petitioner, the petitioner's counsel of record, any authority imposing restraint on the petitioner and the attorney general and reporter at Nashville.

(a) When the trial judge conducting a hearing pursuant to this part finds that the petitioner was denied the right to an appeal from the original conviction in violation of the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of Tennessee and that there is an adequate record…

(a) The district attorney general or the attorney general and reporter must be reimbursed for any expenses, including travel, incurred in connection with the preparation and trial of any proceeding under this part. This expense must be paid by the state and is not included in the…

Indigency shall be determined and counsel and court reporters appointed and reimbursed as now provided for criminal and habeas corpus cases by chapter 14, parts 2 and 3 of this title.

The order granting or denying relief under this part shall be deemed a final judgment, and an appeal may be taken to the court of criminal appeals in the manner prescribed by the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure. In capital cases, the appellate court in which the case is pe…