Tennessee § 41-2-111 - Sentence to hard labor — Good time credit — Disciplinary review board.

§ 41-2-111. Sentence to hard labor — Good time credit — Disciplinary review board.

In all cases where a person is by law liable to be imprisoned in the county jail for punishment or for failure to pay a fine, that person shall be sentenced to be confined, and shall be confined, at hard labor in the county workhouse until the expiration of the sentence of imprisonment or, subject to the limitations imposed by § 40-24-104, until the fine has been worked out, paid or secured to be paid. Each such prisoner who has been sentenced to the county jail or workhouse for any period of time less than one (1) year on either a misdemeanor or a felony, and who behaves uprightly, shall have deducted from the sentence imposed by the court time equal to one quarter (¼) of the sentence. In calculating the amount of good time credit earned, the one-quarter reduction shall apply to the entire sentence, including pretrial and post-trial confinement. Fractions of a day's credit for good time of one half (½) or more shall be considered a full day's credit. If any prisoner violates the rules and regulations of the jail or workhouse, or otherwise behaves improperly, the sheriff or superintendent of the institution may revoke all or any portion of the prisoner's good time credit; provided, that the prisoner is given a hearing in accordance with due process before a disciplinary review board and is found to have violated the rules and regulations of the institution. The disciplinary review board for each institution shall be composed of six (6) impartial members, one (1) or more of whom may be members of the jail or workhouse staff. The members of the disciplinary review board, which is created by this section, shall be appointed by the sheriff or superintendent of the jail or workhouse where the institution is located, subject to approval by the county legislative body. Members shall serve for a period of two (2) years, except that appointments made to fill unexpired terms shall be for the period of the unexpired terms. No less than one (1) and no more than three (3) of the members of the disciplinary review board are required to transact the business authorized by this section. The county legislative body is authorized to establish the rate of compensation for such board members. In any county having a population of more than seven hundred thousand (700,000) according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, this subsection (c) shall not apply. Members of the board, while acting in good faith, shall not be subject to civil liability relative to the performance of duties delegated to the board by this section. The prisoner shall be given notice of the disciplinary hearing and shall have the right to call witnesses in the prisoner's behalf. The decisions of the disciplinary review board for workhouse inmates may be appealed to the sheriff or workhouse superintendent. Acts 1891, ch. 123, § 12; Shan., § 7417; Code 1932, § 12026; Acts 1967, ch. 103, § 1; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 16, 36; 1982, ch. 940, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 41-1219; Acts 1986, ch. 744, §§ 4-9; 1995, ch. 315, § 1; 2005, ch. 307, § 1. Compiler's Notes. For table of U.S. decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement. Cross-References. Collection and settlement of costs and fines, §§ 40-24-102 — 40-24-107 . Textbooks. Tennessee Criminal Practice and Procedure (Raybin), § 32.125. Tennessee Jurisprudence, 8 Tenn. Juris., Criminal Procedure, §§ 52, 54. Law Reviews. Tennessee Civil Disabilities: A Systemic Approach (Neil P. Cohen), 41 Tenn. L. Rev. 253 (1974). Attorney General Opinions. Sentence credits for inmates of county jails and workhouses, OAG 96-061, 1996 Tenn. AG LEXIS 68 (4/4/96). Sentence credits for the offense of driving under the influence of an intoxicant, OAG 99-158, 1999 Tenn. AG LEXIS 150 (8/19/99). Sentence credits pursuant to § 41-2-111 for inmates in county jails or workhouses, OAG 00-051, 2000 Tenn. AG LEXIS 51 (3/20/00). Notwithstanding 41-2-111(b), there is no authority for a court to impose a day-for-day sentence following probation revocation. OAG 02-125, 2002 Tenn. AG LEXIS 130 (11/25/2002) Good-time credits mandated by subsection (b) of this section apply only to post-sentence detention, not to pre-sentence detention, OAG 03-166, 2003 Tenn. AG LEXIS 177 (12/23/03).