2023 Tennessee Code › Title 41 - CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND INMATES (§§ 41-1-101 — 41-51-302) › Chapter 2 - COUNTY WORKHOUSES (§§ 41-2-101 — 41-2-152) › Section 41-2-148 - Inmate labor for private purposes - Travel restrictions

(a)
No sheriff, jailer or other person responsible for the care and custody of inmates housed in a county or municipal jail or workhouse may employ, require or otherwise use any inmate housed in the jail or workhouse to perform labor that will or may result directly or indirectly in the sheriff's, jailer's or other person's personal gain, profit or benefit or in gain, profit or benefit to a business partially or wholly owned by the sheriff, jailer or other person. This subsection (a) shall apply regardless of whether the inmate is or is not compensated for the labor.
(b)
(1)
No sheriff, jailer or other person responsible for the care and custody of inmates housed in a county or municipal jail or workhouse may permit any inmate housed in the jail or workhouse to perform any labor for the gain, profit or benefit of a private citizen or for-profit corporation, partnership or other business, unless the labor is part of a court-approved work release program or unless the work release program operates under a commission established pursuant to §
41-2-134
.
(2)
Inmates housed in a county or municipal jail or workhouse may perform any labor on behalf of a charitable organization or a nonprofit corporation.
(3)
Subject to the approval of the board of regents, inmates of a county or municipal jail or workhouse may perform any labor on behalf of a farm that is operated by any institution that is under the jurisdiction of the board of regents.
(c)
No sheriff, jailer or other person responsible for the care and custody of inmates housed in a county or municipal jail or workhouse may permit any inmate housed in the jail or workhouse to leave this state, unless such travel is approved by the sentencing court, unless the inmate is in need of emergency medical treatment available only in another state or there is a death or medical emergency in the inmate's immediate family.
(d)
(1)
Any sheriff, jailer or other person responsible for the custody of an inmate housed in a local facility who violates this section, upon the person's first conviction for the violation, commits a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine equal to the value of the services received from the inmate or inmates and imprisonment for not less than thirty (30) days nor more than eleven (11) months and twenty-nine (29) days. Upon a second or subsequent conviction for a violation of this section, the sheriff, jailer or other person is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by a fine of not less than the value of the services received from the inmate or inmates nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) and imprisonment for not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years. If the person violating this section for the second or subsequent time is a public official, in addition to the punishment set out in this subdivision (d)(1), the person shall immediately forfeit the person's office and shall be forever barred from holding public office in this state.
(2)
Any private citizen, corporation, partnership or other business knowingly and willfully using inmate labor in violation of subsection (b) commits a Class A misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000) and by imprisonment for not more than eleven (11) months and twenty-nine (29) days. Each day inmate labor is used in violation of subsection (b) constitutes a separate offense.
Acts 1985, ch. 130, § 1; 1989, ch. 48, § 1; 1989, ch. 591, §§1, 6; 2011 , ch. 224, § 1.