Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-2-101 (2026)
Workhouses authorized
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) The counties, through their county legislative bodies, are authorized and empowered to establish, construct and maintain portable, movable or stationary workhouses, as the legislative bodies may, in their discretion and wisdom, deem advisable for the best interest of the county. Prisoners receiving workhouse sentences by the circuit or criminal court of the county shall be sentenced to the workhouse as may be provided by the county legislative body.
- (b) The county legislative body may provide the lands, buildings and articles of any kind as may be necessary for a workhouse for the county.
- (c) The counties shall have the authority under subsection (a), this subsection (c) and § 41-2-103 to establish, construct and maintain portable or moving workhouses for the convenience of working prisoners upon the public highways and in working out their sentences in any labor assigned them.
Acts 1891, ch. 123, § 1; Acts 1907, ch. 445, §§ 1, 2; Shan., §§ 7398, 7399a1, 7399a2; Code 1932, §§ 12004, 12009, 12010; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 7, 36; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 41-1201, 41-1203, 41-1204.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 2000–2011 · leading case: State v. Walls, 62 S.W.3d 119 (Tenn. 2001).
State v. Walls, 62 S.W.3d 119 (Tenn. 2001). “2001) (governing state prisons); Tenn.Code Ann. § 41-2-101 (1997 & Supp.2001) (governing county jails and workhouses).”
Claude Ramsey, Mayor of Hamilton Cnty., Tenn. v. Tenn. Dep't of Human Servs. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2011). “The statute upon which the county relies, Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-2-101 , authorizes counties, through their county legislative bodies, to “establish, construct and maintain .”
State v. David Mitchell (Tenn. Crim. App. 2000). “” See generally Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-2-101 to -150 (1997 and Supp.”
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