HOWARD JEFFERSON ATKINS v. TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION ET AL. - Articles

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HOWARD JEFFERSON ATKINS v. TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION ET AL.

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Aug 15, 2025

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; J. Matthew Rice, Solicitor General; and John H. Bledsoe, Deputy Attorney General, for the appellants, Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter, and the Tennessee Department of Correction.

Attorneys 2: David R. Esquivel, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Howard Jefferson Atkins.

Judge(s): CLEMENT

This is an action for declaratory judgment filed by an inmate to correct his sentence expiration date. The inmate was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder, and his sentence was governed by the release eligibility provision in Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-35-501(h)(1). The State agreed that § 40-35-501(h)(1) entitled the inmate to apply credits for good behavior and program performance to reduce his parole eligibility date, but the parties disagreed on whether the inmate could also apply his credits to reduce the length of his sentence, to advance his sentence expiration date. The trial court entered judgment for the inmate. The court reasoned that the sentence credit statute, Tennessee Code Annotated § 41-21-236, applies to all inmates unless otherwise specified and that the General Assembly had not specifically prohibited the application of credits to the expiration date of life sentences for first-degree murder. We agree with the trial court and affirm its judgment.

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