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

(a) 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. (b) 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 (1/4) 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 (1/2) 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. (c) (1) 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. (2) 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. (3) 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. (4) 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. (5) 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. (6) 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. (d) 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.

Legislative History

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.