(a) It is an offense for any lawfully confined person arrested for, charged with, or found guilty of a civil or criminal offense to escape from a penal institution, as defined in § 39-16-601.

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class E felony1 to 6 yearsup to $3,000
class A misdemeanorup to 11 monthsup to $2,500
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-16-605

  • Custody: means under arrest by a law enforcement officer or under restraint by a public servant pursuant to an order of a court. See Tennessee Code 39-16-601
  • Escape: means unauthorized departure from custody or failure to return to custody following temporary leave for a specific purpose or limited period, but does not include a violation of conditions of probation or parole. See Tennessee Code 39-16-601
  • Law enforcement officer: includes a sheriff, sheriff's deputy, and, only for purposes of the enhancement of a crime, a deputy jailer. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Penal institution: includes any institution or facility used to house or detain a person:
    (A) Convicted of a crime. See Tennessee Code 39-16-601
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
(b)

(1) A person commits the offense of escape who is in the lawful custody of a law enforcement officer and knowingly escapes the officer’s custody.
(2) As used in subdivision (b)(1), “lawful custody” means a person has been taken, seized or detained by a law enforcement officer either by handcuffing, restraining or any other method by which a reasonable person would believe places the person in custody and that otherwise deprives the person’s freedom of action in a significant way.
(c)

(1) A violation of subsection (a) is:

(A) A Class A misdemeanor if the person was being held for a misdemeanor or civil offense; and
(B) A Class E felony if the person was being held for a felony.
(2) A violation of subsection (b) is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) Any sentence received for a violation of this section shall be ordered to be served consecutively to the sentence being served or sentence received for the charge for which the person was being held at the time of the escape.
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