State of Tennessee v. Anthony Wayne Lankford and Christopher Arthur McKeon

OPINION

in which RILEY and WILLIAMS, JJ., joined.

This case raises issues of first impression in Tennessee. The defendants are convicted felons from Montana who were sent to serve portions of their Montana sentences at a private, for-profit prison facility in Tennessee. Following their escape from the Tennessee facility, the defendants were each convicted of one count of escape, in violation of Tennessee Code Annotated Section 39-16-606. The defendants now appeal their convictions, raising two interrelated issues: 1) whether Tennessee’s escape statute makes it a crime for a prisoner who has not…