Tennessee legislation · 114th General Assembly
Tennessee SB1820: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 10 and Title 41, relative to body cameras.
Status: Chaptered, May 18, 2026
Fiscal Summary NOT SIGNIFICANT Bill Summary ON APRIL 21, 2026, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT # 2, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1718, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 rewrites the bill to, instead, require each correctional officer at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center to utilize a body camera that is recording at all times while the officer is on duty at the facility and is in contact with or may reasonably anticipate contact or interaction with an inmate. The prison contractor providing correctional services at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center must pay the costs of procuring an adequate number of body cameras and the costs of data storage and maintenance. REVIEW AND TRANSMISSION OF FOOTAGE This amendment requires the department of correction ("department") to designate one or more employees to review captured body camera recordings for each incident, interaction between two or more inmates, or interaction between a correctional officer and an inmate or another correctional officer that is or is suspected to be unlawful, abusive, or that may otherwise require a report or the discipline of an inmate. Such review must happen within five business days of the incident or interaction. Body camera recordings that must be reviewed or that may be subject to a request must be stored and maintained securely for at least one year. Stored recordings must be easily transmissible to the district attorney general and a prosecuting authority. Recordings not required to be stored must be maintained for at least seven days after review. This amendment requires the department to transmit to the district attorney general each portion of a body camera recording that captures an incident, interaction between two or more inmates, or interaction between a correctional officer and an inmate or another correctional officer that is or is suspected to be unl
What the bill says
From the amended text:
Senate Finance, Ways, and Means 1 Amendment No. 2 to SB1820 Watson Signature of Sponsor AMEND S e n ate Bill No. 1820 House Bill No. 1718* by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 41, Chapter 51, is amended by adding the following as a new part: 41-51-401. Part definitions. As used in this part: (1) "Correctional facility" means an adult correctional facility located: (A) On public property that houses, in whole or in part, inmates under the custody of the department for which correctional services are provided to such inmates by a prison contractor; and (B) In a county that has a metropolitan form of government with a population of not less than eleven thousand six hundred (11,600) and not more than eleven thousand six hundred sixteen (11,616), according to the 2020 federal census or a subsequent federal census; (2) "Correctional officer" means a facility employee assigned to a security post on a schedule shift whose job title or position is defined as a correctional officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, correctional counselor, or unit manager; (3) "Correctional services" has the same meaning as defined in § 41-24102; (4) "Department" means the department of correction; and (5) "Prison contractor" has the same meaning as defined in § 41-24-102. 41-51-402. Body cameras in …