Tennessee Code Title 37. Juveniles § 37-5-206

(a) Any child committed to the department for an offense punishable by confinement in the penitentiary may be retained in a youth center until such child's nineteenth birthday, or at any time after the child's eighteenth birthday, when found to be incorrigible by the superintendent, subject to agreement between the commissioner of correction and the commissioner of children's services, may be transferred to the penitentiary. The authority for transferring such children eighteen (18) years of age or older shall be upon warrant issued by the commissioner, such warrant to contain the name of the child, age at conviction and at the transfer, and the offense for which committed. The superintendent shall furnish to the warden of the penitentiary the original commitment papers in the case.

(b) A child sixteen (16) years of age or older, confined in a youth development center approved, certified, or licensed by the department and who escapes therefrom commits a Class A misdemeanor and may be prosecuted as an adult in the court having jurisdiction of the offense pursuant to § 37-1-134. The superintendent of the youth development center shall notify the district attorney general in the district in which the escape was effected that the escape has occurred and the facts relating thereto.