Tennessee Code Title 41. Correctional Institutions and Inmates § 41-2-122

(a) Whenever the sheriff or superintendent or other official in charge of the county workhouse or penal farm determines that a prisoner convicted and sentenced to the workhouse or penal farm requires hospitalization for treatment of a mental illness, that official may seek the admission of the prisoner to a state psychiatric hospital under § 33-6-201, title 33, chapter 6, part 4 or title 33, chapter 6, part 5.

(b) A prisoner from a workhouse or penal farm who is admitted to a state psychiatric hospital under § 33-6-201, title 33, chapter 6, part 4 or title 33, chapter 6, part 5 shall be returned to the workhouse or penal farm whenever the superintendent of the hospital determines that the prisoner no longer meets the standards under which the prisoner was admitted or when continued hospitalization is no longer advisable or beneficial.