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HB1294 • 2026

Correction, Dept. of

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 3; Title 40 and Title 41, relative to correctional institutions.

Crime
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Powell, Campbell
Last action
2025-02-12
Official status
Assigned to s/c Departments & Agencies Subcommittee
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Books and Materials for Inmates

This bill changes rules about what books and materials can be given to inmates in Tennessee's correctional institutions.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows book vendors to donate books and educational materials to state inmates, unless the materials are sexually explicit or show nudity regularly.
  • Requires correctional institutions not to deny these donations except when there is a clear threat to security or order.
  • Gives inmates who disagree with decisions about their reading material the right to ask for a hearing.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Inmates in Tennessee's correctional facilities
  • Book vendors and organizations that donate books to prisons

Terms To Know

Contraband
Items not allowed by law or prison rules.
Sexually explicit
Material showing actual or simulated sexual acts.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify what happens if donated materials are found to be a security threat.
  • It is unclear how the new rules will affect existing prison policies on book donations.

Bill History

  1. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Departments & Agencies Subcommittee

  2. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to State & Local Government Committee

  3. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee

  4. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  5. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  6. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  7. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

Abstract summarizes the bill.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 1100
By Campbell

HOUSE BILL 1294
By Powell

HB1294
001472
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4,
Chapter 3; Title 40 and Title 41, relative to
correctional institutions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 6, is amended by
adding the following new section:
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Book vendor" means a nonprofit organization that provides books
and educational materials donated by authors, publishers, and other individuals
to state inmates;
(2) "Contraband" means an item that is not permitted by law, or that is
either prohibited or not specifically authorized by the department or correctional
institution policy;
(3) "Correctional institution" means a facility under the authority of this
state, a county, a municipal government, or a privately managed facility that has
the power to detain or restrain, or both, a person under the laws of this state;
(4) "Department" means the department of correction or the
commissioner of correction;
(5) "Feature" or "features" means the display or depiction of nudity or
sexually explicit conduct in books or other printed materials on a routine or
regular basis or the promotion of such depictions in individual one-time issues.
"Feature" or "features" does not include the display or depiction of nudity

- 2 - 001472

illustrative of medical, educational, or anthropological content in books or other
publications;
(6) "Nudity" means depictions where genitalia or female breasts are
exposed. "Nudity" does not include publications containing nudity illustrative of
medical, educational, or anthropological content;
(7) "Printed materials" means books, publications, magazines,
newspapers, periodicals, circulars, catalogues, or clippings that are portions of
such materials, delivered by a postal or other delivery service to correctional
institutions by book venders; and
(8) "Sexually explicit" means depictions of actual or simulated sexual
acts, including sexual intercourse, oral sex, or masturbation, or material that
promotes itself based on such depictions on a routine or regular basis or in
individual one-time issues.
(b)
(1) Notwithstanding any department policy or rule to the contrary, a
correctional institution shall not deny the dissemination or availability of printed
materials from book venders to state inmates housed in such institutions except
as authorized in subsection (c).
(2) A state inmate who is adversely affected by a decision of the
department pursuant to this section may petition the department for a hearing to
be held in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled
in title 4, chapter 5, part 3.
(c) Incoming printed materials may be determined by the department to be a
threat to the security of the correctional institution and returned to the sender if the

- 3 - 001472

institution can establish by clear and convincing evidence that the dissemination or
availability of such materials to state inmates could:
(1) Be an attempt to incite violence based on race, religion, sex, creed, or
nationality;
(2) Advocate, facilitate, or otherwise present a risk of lawlessness,
violence, anarchy, or rebellion against government authority, institution staff, or
other inmates;
(3) Be an attempt to incite disobedience toward law enforcement officials
or institution staff;
(4) Be an attempt to give instructions for the manufacturing or use of
intoxicants, weapons, explosives, drugs, drug paraphernalia, other unlawful
articles or substances, or other items deemed as contraband;
(5) Contain plans to escape, unauthorized entry into the institution, or
information or maps which might aid an escape attempt by an inmate;
(6) Contain information relating to security threat group activity or use of
codes or symbols associated with security threat groups; or
(7) Be sexually explicit material or material that features nudity, which by
its nature or content poses a threat to the security, good order, or discipline of the
institution, or facilitates criminal activity.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.