Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-21-303: Return on failure to answer

If the inmate declines to answer the bill, petition or interrogatories after they have been read over and explained by the officer executing them, in the presence of the warden or the assistant warden, the officer may make the return accordingly, whereupon the bill, petition or interrogatories, so far as the inmate is concerned, shall be taken for confessed as true and proceedings had as usual in such cases.