TCA § 40-23-101 — Commencement of sentence — Credit for pretrial detention and jail time pending appeal

When a person is sentenced to imprisonment, the judgment of the court shall be rendered so that the sentence shall commence on the day on which the defendant legally comes into the custody of the sheriff for execution of the judgment of imprisonment. This section shall not apply in a case where, after the rendition of the judgment of imprisonment, an execution of the judgment is stayed by appeal or otherwise. This section shall not interfere with the operation of the statute requiring sheriffs in whose custody defendants come for execution of judgments of imprisonment to commit those defendants as soon as possible to jail or to the warden of the penitentiary. The trial court shall, at the time the sentence is imposed and the defendant is committed to jail, the workhouse or the state penitentiary for imprisonment, render the judgment of the court so as to allow the defendant credit on the sentence for any period of time for which the defendant was committed and held in the city jail or juvenile court detention prior to waiver of juvenile court jurisdiction, or county jail or workhouse, pending arraignment and trial. The defendant shall also receive credit on the sentence for the time served in the jail, workhouse or penitentiary subsequent to any conviction arising out of the original offense for which the defendant was tried. In the event the person sentenced appeals the cause to the supreme court and is required to spend time in jail pending the appeal, the supreme court may modify the original sentence allowing a reduction for the time spent in jail pending an appeal upon a petition being filed in the defendant's behalf setting out the time spent in jail within five (5) days after the announcement of the supreme court decision; provided, that the facts alleged in the petition are verified by the clerk of the court where the sentence was imposed. This section applies in both felony and misdemeanor cases. A certified copy of the order modifying the original sentence in each case shall be forwarded by the clerk of the supreme court to the warden of the state penitentiary.