By: Delco H.B. No. 1056
73R4604 GWK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the creation of county jail industries programs and the
1-3 use of county jail inmates for public works, public improvements,
1-4 and public maintenance projects.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Chapter 351, Local Government Code, is amended by
1-7 adding Subchapter I to read as follows:
1-8 SUBCHAPTER I. COUNTY JAIL INDUSTRIES PROGRAM
1-9 Sec. 351.201. COUNTY JAIL INDUSTRIES PROGRAM. (a) A
1-10 commissioners court may establish a county jail industries program.
1-11 (b) The purpose of a county jail industries program is to:
1-12 (1) provide adequate, regular, and suitable employment
1-13 for the vocational training of inmates;
1-14 (2) reimburse the county for expenses caused by the
1-15 crimes of inmates and the cost of their confinement; and
1-16 (3) provide for the distribution of articles and
1-17 products produced under this subchapter to offices of the county
1-18 and offices of political subdivisions located in whole or in part
1-19 in the county.
1-20 (c) A county jail industries program is under the control
1-21 and management of the sheriff.
1-22 Sec. 351.202. ADVISORY COMMITTEE. The commissioners court
1-23 shall appoint a nine-member advisory committee to assist the
1-24 sheriff in the management of the county jail industries program.
2-1 Members of the advisory committee serve at the will of the
2-2 commissioners court.
2-3 Sec. 351.203. RULES. The sheriff, with the assistance of
2-4 the advisory committee, shall adopt rules necessary for the
2-5 administration of this subchapter.
2-6 Sec. 351.204. PRIORITIES. The sheriff shall administer this
2-7 subchapter first to fulfill the needs of county offices for
2-8 articles and products produced under this subchapter and second to
2-9 fulfill the needs of offices of political subdivisions located in
2-10 whole or in part in the county for articles and products produced
2-11 under this subchapter.
2-12 Sec. 351.205. PRODUCTS; PRICES. The sheriff, with the
2-13 assistance of the advisory committee, shall determine the articles
2-14 and products to be produced under this subchapter and the sales
2-15 prices of those articles and products.
2-16 Sec. 351.206. SPECIFICATIONS. The sheriff, with the
2-17 assistance of the advisory committee, shall establish
2-18 specifications for articles and products produced under this
2-19 subchapter.
2-20 Sec. 351.207. INMATE LABOR; PAY. (a) The sheriff shall use
2-21 inmate labor in the county jail industries program.
2-22 (b) The sheriff may develop and administer, with the
2-23 assistance of the advisory committee, an incentive pay scale for
2-24 inmates confined in the county jail who participate in the county
2-25 jail industries program. The sheriff shall apportion pay earned by
2-26 an inmate under this subchapter to the following persons and
2-27 entities, in amounts determined at the discretion of the sheriff:
3-1 (1) persons to whom the inmate has been ordered by a
3-2 court to pay restitution;
3-3 (2) the inmate's family and dependents;
3-4 (3) the county, as reimbursement for the cost of the
3-5 inmate's confinement;
3-6 (4) the Compensation to Victims of Crime Fund created
3-7 by Section 14, Crime Victims Compensation Act (Article 8309-1,
3-8 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); and
3-9 (5) the inmate's trust fund.
3-10 Sec. 351.208. PROCEEDS. Proceeds received from the
3-11 operation of a county jail industries program shall be deposited in
3-12 the general revenue fund of the county.
3-13 SECTION 2. Article 43.09(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
3-14 amended to read as follows:
3-15 (a) When a defendant is convicted of a misdemeanor and his
3-16 punishment is assessed at a pecuniary fine, if he is unable to pay
3-17 the fine and costs adjudged against him, he may for such time as
3-18 will satisfy the judgment be put to work in the county jail
3-19 industries program, in the workhouse, or on the county farm, or
3-20 public improvements and maintenance projects of the county or a
3-21 political subdivision located in whole or in part in the county, as
3-22 provided in the succeeding Article; or if there be no such county
3-23 jail industries program, workhouse, farm, or improvements and
3-24 maintenance projects, he shall be imprisoned in jail for a
3-25 sufficient length of time to discharge the full amount of fine and
3-26 costs adjudged against him; rating such imprisonment at $50 for
3-27 each day and rating such labor at $50 for each day; provided,
4-1 however, that the defendant may pay the pecuniary fine assessed
4-2 against him at any time while he is serving at work in the county
4-3 jail industries program, in the workhouse, or on the county farm,
4-4 or on the public improvements and maintenance projects of the
4-5 county or a political subdivision located in whole or in part in
4-6 the county, or while he is serving his jail sentence, and in such
4-7 instances he shall be entitled to the credit he has earned under
4-8 this subsection during the time that he has served and he shall
4-9 only be required to pay his balance of the pecuniary fine assessed
4-10 against him. A defendant who performs labor under this article
4-11 during a day in which he is imprisoned is entitled to both the
4-12 credit for imprisonment and the credit for labor provided by this
4-13 article.
4-14 SECTION 3. Article 43.10(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
4-15 amended to read as follows:
4-16 (a) Where the punishment assessed in a conviction for
4-17 misdemeanor is confinement in jail for more than one day, or where
4-18 in such conviction the punishment is assessed only at a pecuniary
4-19 fine and the party so convicted is unable to pay the fine and costs
4-20 adjudged against him, or where the party convicted is required to
4-21 serve a period of confinement as a condition of probation, the
4-22 party convicted or required to serve the period of confinement
4-23 shall be required to work in the county jail industries program or
4-24 shall be required to do manual labor in accordance with the
4-25 provisions of this Article under the following rules and
4-26 regulations:
4-27 1. Each commissioners court may provide for the
5-1 erection of a workhouse and the establishment of a county farm in
5-2 connection therewith for the purpose of utilizing the labor of said
5-3 parties so convicted or required to serve a period of confinement;
5-4 2. Such farms and workhouses shall be under the
5-5 control and management of the sheriff, and the sheriff may adopt
5-6 such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the rules and
5-7 regulations of the <Texas> Commission on Jail Standards and with
5-8 the laws as the sheriff deems necessary;
5-9 3. Such overseers and guards may be employed by the
5-10 sheriff under the authority of the commissioners court as may be
5-11 necessary to prevent escapes and to enforce such labor, and they
5-12 shall be paid out of the county treasury such compensation as the
5-13 commissioners court may prescribe;
5-14 4. They shall be put to labor upon public works and
5-15 maintenance projects, including public works and maintenance
5-16 projects for a political subdivision located in whole or in part in
5-17 the county;
5-18 5. One who from age, disease, or other physical or
5-19 mental disability is unable to do manual labor shall not be
5-20 required to work. His inability to do manual labor may be
5-21 determined by a physician appointed for that purpose by the county
5-22 judge or the commissioners court, who shall be paid for such
5-23 service such compensation as said court may allow; and
5-24 6. For each day of manual labor, in addition to any
5-25 other credits allowed by law, a prisoner is entitled to have one
5-26 day deducted from each sentence or period of confinement he is
5-27 serving. The deduction authorized by this article, when combined
6-1 with the deduction required by Article 42.10 of this code<, Code of
6-2 Criminal Procedure,> may not exceed two-thirds (2/3) of the
6-3 sentence or period of confinement.
6-4 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-9 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-10 passage, and it is so enacted.