By: Shapiro S.B. No. 44
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the restoration of good conduct time forfeited by an
1-2 inmate of the institutional division of the Texas Department of
1-3 Criminal Justice.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 498.004, Government Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 498.004. Forfeiture and Restoration of Good Conduct
1-8 Time. (a) If, during the actual term of imprisonment of an inmate
1-9 in the institutional division, the inmate commits an offense or
1-10 violates a rule of the division, the director of the institutional
1-11 division may forfeit all or any part of the inmate's accrued good
1-12 conduct time. The director of the institutional division may not
1-13 restore good conduct time forfeited under this subsection <subject
1-14 to rules adopted by the institutional division>.
1-15 (b) On the revocation of parole or mandatory supervision of
1-16 an inmate, the inmate forfeits all good conduct time previously
1-17 accrued. On return to the institutional division the inmate may
1-18 accrue new good conduct time for subsequent time served in the
1-19 division. The director of the institutional division may not
1-20 restore good conduct time forfeited on a revocation <that does not
1-21 involve a new criminal conviction after the inmate has served at
1-22 least three months of good behavior in the institutional division,
1-23 subject to rules adopted by the division>. <Not later than the
1-24 60th day after the date an inmate is returned to the institutional
2-1 division following a revocation of parole or mandatory supervision,
2-2 the pardons and paroles division shall notify the director of the
2-3 institutional division of the grounds for revocation.>
2-4 SECTION 2. Section 498.005, Government Code, is amended to
2-5 read as follows:
2-6 Sec. 498.005. Annual Review of Classification; <Restoration
2-7 of Good Time;> Retroactive Award of Good Time. At least annually,
2-8 the board shall review the institutional division's rules relating
2-9 to <restoration of good conduct time that has been forfeited,> the
2-10 manner in which inmates are reclassified<,> and the manner in which
2-11 additional good conduct time is awarded retroactively to inmates
2-12 who have been reclassified. The board shall consider in its review
2-13 whether the inmate overcrowding in the institutional division has
2-14 decreased and whether it is necessary for purposes of decreasing
2-15 overcrowding to classify inmates according to Section 498.002 <to
2-16 restore good conduct time under Section 498.004,> or to award
2-17 additional good conduct time retroactively to inmates who have been
2-18 reclassified. If the board determines that overcrowding has
2-19 decreased and it is not necessary to <restore good conduct time or>
2-20 award additional good conduct time, it shall direct the
2-21 institutional division to discontinue that practice <those
2-22 practices>.
2-23 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
2-24 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-25 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-26 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-27 before the effective date.
3-1 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
3-2 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
3-3 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
3-4 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-5 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.