Mandatory Jail for Driving on a DUI-Revoked License

Attorney Answer

Yes — a conviction for driving on a licence revoked because of a DUI carries a mandatory minimum of two days in jail in Tennessee. That floor is set by the legislature, not by the judge. What you can fight is whether you are convicted at all, and whether your inability to pay is being treated as a reason to lock you up.

The governing law. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-50-504, "Driving while license cancelled, suspended or revoked," provides that where the cancellation, suspension, or revocation was because of a conviction for driving while intoxicated under § 55-10-401, the person "shall be punished by confinement for not less than two (2) days nor more than six (6) months," and a fine of up to $1,000 may be imposed in addition. That is where the 48 hours you keep hearing about comes from.

The ability-to-pay point, and its limits. A court may not jail a person solely because he is too poor to pay court debt without first inquiring into his ability to pay and considering alternatives to incarceration. Your congestive heart failure, your inability to work, and your lack of income are directly relevant to that inquiry, and you should put every bit of it in front of the judge.

But be clear about what that protects and what it does not. That principle protects you from being jailed for nonpayment of fines, costs, and fees. It does not, by itself, erase the statutory minimum in § 55-50-504 for a new conviction for driving on a revoked licence. Your medical and financial situation is powerfully relevant to how the court handles your costs, to a payment plan, to sentencing discretion above the two-day floor, and to whether the prosecutor is willing to resolve the case in a way that avoids a § 55-50-504 conviction altogether. It is not a defense to the charge. Go in knowing the difference.

What you can do

1. Go to every court date without exception. Missing one converts a payment problem into a warrant, and a warrant closes off most of the options below. 2. At your first appearance, ask the judge to appoint a public defender and complete an affidavit of indigency. Because this charge carries jail time, you can ask the court for appointed counsel — and legal aid organizations like the one that turned you down generally do not handle criminal cases at all, which is very likely why you were refused. That refusal was not a judgment about your case. 3. Bring your medical documentation: the congestive heart failure diagnosis, a physician's statement that you are unable to work, and any disability determination or pending application. 4. Bring proof of your income situation — benefits letters, bank statements, denial letters, anything showing what you actually have. 5. Get your certified driving record from the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security and find out exactly what reinstatement requires: which fees, which fines, and whether an interlock restriction or SR-22 insurance filing is part of it. You cannot solve a problem you have not itemized. 6. Ask, specifically and in writing, for three things: a payment plan, an indigency waiver or reduction of court costs, and whether you qualify for a restricted licence in the meantime. 7. Do not drive at all until the licence is valid. A second driving-on-revoked charge on top of this one removes nearly every option you currently have.