41-21-221 - Examination and burial of deceased prisoners. - Tennessee Statutes

41-21-221. Examination and burial of deceased prisoners.

(a)  Whenever any inmate dies in the penitentiary, the warden shall forthwith notify the commissioner of correction, if practicable, and summon at least one (1) licensed physician of the county of the prison to examine the body of the deceased, whose duty it is to attend and ascertain, as nearly as may be, the cause of death, and report the cause to the commissioner, and the warden shall not permit the body to be buried until that examination is made.

(b)  If the body is not applied for by the friends of the deceased, nor for medical and surgical science under the provisions of the law, within a convenient time after the examination, the warden shall have it decently interred in the burying place provided for the penitentiary.

[Code 1858, §§ 5529, 5530; impl. am. Acts 1895 (E.S.), ch. 7, § 21; impl. am. Acts 1897, ch. 125, § 1; impl. am. Acts 1899, ch. 206; impl. am. Acts 1915, ch. 20, § 9; Shan., §§ 7548, 7549; impl. am. Acts 1919, ch. 39, §§ 1, 2; impl. am. Acts 1923, ch. 7, § 42; Code 1932, §§ 12147, 12148; impl. am. Acts 1955, ch. 102; 1972, ch. 576, § 19; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 41-344, 41-345.]