By McClendon H.B. No. 1928
75R6779 DAK-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the operation of juvenile pre-adjudication and
1-3 post-adjudication secure detention and correctional facilities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 51.12, Family Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsection (i) to read
1-7 as follows:
1-8 (c) In each county, each [the] judge of the juvenile court
1-9 and the members of the juvenile board shall personally inspect the
1-10 juvenile pre-adjudication secure detention facilities and any
1-11 public or private juvenile secure correctional facilities used for
1-12 post-adjudication confinement that are located in the county and
1-13 operated under authority of the juvenile board at least annually
1-14 and shall certify in writing to the authorities responsible for
1-15 operating and giving financial support to the facilities and to the
1-16 Texas Juvenile Probation Commission that they are suitable or
1-17 unsuitable for the detention of children in accordance with:
1-18 (1) the requirements of Subsections (a), (f), and (g);
1-19 and
1-20 (2) minimum professional standards for the detention
1-21 of children in pre-adjudication or post-adjudication secure
1-22 confinement promulgated by the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission
1-23 [or, at the election of the juvenile board, the current standards
1-24 promulgated by the American Correctional Association].
2-1 (d) No child shall be placed in a facility that has not been
2-2 certified under Subsection (c) of this section as suitable for the
2-3 detention of children and registered under Subsection (i) of this
2-4 section. A child detained in a facility that has not been
2-5 certified under Subsection (c) of this section as suitable for the
2-6 detention of children or that has not been registered under
2-7 Subsection (i) of this section shall be entitled to immediate
2-8 release from custody in that facility.
2-9 (i) Except for a facility operated or certified by the Texas
2-10 Youth Commission, a governmental unit or private entity that
2-11 operates or contracts for the operation of a juvenile
2-12 pre-adjudication secure detention facility or a juvenile
2-13 post-adjudication secure correctional facility in this state shall:
2-14 (1) register the facility annually with the Texas
2-15 Juvenile Probation Commission; and
2-16 (2) adhere to all applicable minimum standards for the
2-17 facility adopted by the commission.
2-18 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-19 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.