By Telford H.B. No. 2195
74R6430 GWK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the provision of sex offender treatment to certain
1-3 inmates imprisoned in the institutional division of the Texas
1-4 Department of Criminal Justice.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 501, Government Code, is
1-7 amended by adding Section 501.0932 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 501.0932. IN-PRISON THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITIES: SEX
1-9 OFFENDERS. (a) The institutional division shall establish a
1-10 program to confine and treat in in-prison therapeutic communities
1-11 inmates who are serving a sentence for an offense under Section
1-12 21.11, 22.011, 22.021, or 25.02, Penal Code, or are otherwise
1-13 determined by the division to have a history of conduct consistent
1-14 with the conduct of sex offenders and to need sex offender
1-15 treatment.
1-16 (b) The program is in addition to existing sex offender
1-17 treatment services provided to inmates.
1-18 (c) The institutional division and the Council on Sex
1-19 Offender Treatment shall jointly develop methods of screening and
1-20 assessing inmates to determine their need for sex offender
1-21 treatment. The institutional division shall screen each inmate who
1-22 is transferred to the custody of the institutional division to
1-23 determine whether the inmate is in need of sex offender treatment.
1-24 The institutional division shall assess the inmates who are
2-1 identified as having a need for sex offender treatment and shall
2-2 determine the severity of the problem indicating the need for
2-3 treatment.
2-4 (d) The program must consist of a treatment program of
2-5 indeterminate length, not to exceed 12 months. The institutional
2-6 division shall make a referral of an inmate to a program based on
2-7 the severity of the problem indicating the need for treatment, the
2-8 eligibility of the inmate, and the availability of treatment space.
2-9 An inmate who has not more than 12 months remaining in the inmate's
2-10 sentence before the earliest date the inmate is eligible for parole
2-11 is eligible for the program.
2-12 (e) The institutional division shall separate inmates
2-13 participating in the program from the general population of the
2-14 division and house the inmates in discrete units or areas within
2-15 units, except during the diagnostic process or at other times
2-16 determined to be necessary by the division for medical or security
2-17 purposes. The institutional division shall separate an inmate who
2-18 successfully completes the program from the general population of
2-19 the division during any period after completion and before the
2-20 inmate is discharged or released on parole or mandatory supervision
2-21 from the department.
2-22 (f) The program provided under this section must contain
2-23 highly structured work, education, and treatment schedules, a
2-24 clearly delineated authority structure, and well-defined goals and
2-25 guidelines. The institutional division shall establish a graded
2-26 system of rewards and sanctions for inmates who participate in the
2-27 program.
3-1 (g) The institutional division shall contract through the
3-2 Council on Sex Offender Treatment to provide sex offender treatment
3-3 providers to implement the program. For purposes of this section,
3-4 a "sex offender treatment provider" is a person who is included in
3-5 the registry maintained by the council.
3-6 (h) The institutional division shall adopt:
3-7 (1) a procedure for determining which eligible inmates
3-8 are the best candidates for participation in the program, with
3-9 priority for those eligible inmates who volunteer; and
3-10 (2) rules of conduct for inmates participating in the
3-11 program.
3-12 (i) If the sex offender treatment provider implementing the
3-13 program determines that an inmate is not complying with the rules
3-14 of the program, the treatment provider shall notify the
3-15 institutional division of that fact and the institutional division
3-16 shall end the inmate's participation in the program and transfer
3-17 the inmate out of the program.
3-18 (j) Neither the institutional division nor a sex offender
3-19 treatment provider implementing the program may operate the program
3-20 in a manner that automatically excludes inmates who do not
3-21 volunteer to participate, and the division and the treatment
3-22 provider shall attempt to encourage nonvolunteer inmates to
3-23 participate.
3-24 (k) If funding is available, the Criminal Justice Policy
3-25 Council, with the assistance of the institutional division, shall
3-26 develop methods to evaluate the processes used by the division in
3-27 providing the program and the level of success achieved by the
4-1 program.
4-2 SECTION 2. The section heading to Section 501.0931,
4-3 Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
4-4 Sec. 501.0931. IN-PRISON THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITIES: DRUG OR
4-5 ALCOHOL ABUSE.
4-6 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.