(a) Any prisoner sentenced to a period of imprisonment under supervision of the department of correction and who is otherwise eligible to participate in the contract sentencing program may enter into an agreement with the department and the board of parole for a sentence agreement. The department and the board may establish objectives or programs for each eligible prisoner who wishes to enter into an agreement under the contract sentencing program.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 40-34-103

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(b) The sentence agreement may include the promise of the prisoner to complete certain enumerated objectives, or certain programs offered for prisoners by the department, in return for:

(1) The promise of the board to parole the prisoner on a definite, specified named date or a specific date in relation to the release eligibility date of the eligible prisoner; and
(2) The promise of the department to provide the means by which the prisoner may have access to the programs and services necessary for the prisoner to fulfill the prisoner’s part of the agreement.
(c) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, if an inmate has served a minimum of ten (10) consecutive years in continuous confinement in correctional facilities and has entered into a sentencing agreement, there shall be no statutory restriction on the minimum amount of time that the inmate must serve before being paroled pursuant to the terms of the sentencing agreement. No offender who has been convicted as an habitual offender or has been convicted of a crime against the person, no offender who has been convicted of first degree murder, and no offender who has been convicted of a sexual offense as contained in §§ 39-13-501 – 39-13-506, 39-13-507 [repealed], 39-13-101 and 39-12-101 shall be eligible to participate in the contract sentencing program authorized by this subsection (c).
(d) No agreement entered into under this chapter shall be legally binding or enforceable by any of the parties to the agreement.
(e) The commissioner shall notify the district attorney general who prosecuted the case, or the district attorney general’s successor, the trial judge in whose court the conviction occurred, or the trial judge’s successor, and the victim or the victim’s next of kin prior to the execution of a sentencing agreement under subsection (c).
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