TCA § 41-21-511 — Earnings of inmates deposited in trust accounts — Establishment and payment of daily room and board rate

When inmates are employed for wages or salaries, the division shall collect or require inmates to turn over wages and salaries when received, and the director shall assure the moneys are deposited in trust accounts and that ledgers are maintained reflecting the status of individual accounts. Each inmate gainfully or self-employed shall be liable for reasonable charges for board as fixed by the commissioner of correction. If necessarily absent from correctional institutions at meal times, the inmate shall, at the inmate's own request, be furnished with adequate meals to carry to work and the inmate's account shall be charged for those meals. If an inmate defaults in the payment of board by neglecting to turn over wages or salary, the inmate's release privileges as provided by this chapter shall automatically be terminated. Notwithstanding § 41-21-510 or any other law to the contrary, as a condition precedent to being placed on a work release program, an inmate placed on any work release program shall agree to pay to the appropriate governmental body a daily room and board rate per inmate in an amount not less than five dollars ($5.00) nor more than twelve dollars and fifty cents ($12.50) of the inmate's take-home pay as provided in this chapter. In the case of a state inmate on a work release program in a state correctional institution or in a local or county detention facility or other supervised confinement facility, the commissioner shall annually establish a fee schedule for daily room and board for the inmate; provided, that the schedule of fees is within the limitations specified in subdivision (b)(1) and the inmate is permitted to retain not less than twenty-five percent (25%) of take-home pay as savings. The inmate shall pay to the state the amount specified in the fee schedule. In the case of a county inmate in a local or county detention facility or other supervised confinement facility, an inmate placed on a work release program shall pay to the local or county government responsible for maintaining the inmate an amount not less than five dollars ($5.00) per day nor more than twelve dollars and fifty cents ($12.50) per day as provided in a fee schedule to be prepared annually by the commissioner in the same manner as the state schedule of the fees. Inmates participating in educational programs authorized by § 41-21-509 on a full-time basis, at least twelve (12) quarter or semester hours each term, may participate in a part-time work release program. Inmates attending school full time and working part time, under thirty-two (32) hours a week, who earn less than one hundred dollars ($100) a week shall pay room and board charges totaling twenty-five percent (25%) of weekly net income. If the inmate earns more than one hundred dollars ($100) per week, room and board charges shall be deducted as in subsection (b).