By Whitmire S.B. No. 1610
75R6164 GWK-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the county jail work release program and to
1-3 participation by certain inmates of the Texas Department of
1-4 Criminal Justice, with the approval of a sheriff, in that program.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Chapter 499, Government Code, is amended by
1-7 adding Subchapter H to read as follows:
1-8 SUBCHAPTER H. TRANSFER TO COUNTY JAIL WORK RELEASE PROGRAM
1-9 Sec. 499.181. INMATES ELIGIBLE FOR TRANSFER. (a) An inmate
1-10 is eligible for transfer under this section if the inmate is
1-11 confined in a facility operated by or under contract with the
1-12 department and has achieved or is within one year of achieving the
1-13 inmate's presumptive parole date or mandatory supervision release
1-14 date.
1-15 (b) The department may transfer an eligible inmate to a
1-16 county jail for participation in the county jail work release
1-17 program if the sheriff approves the transfer of the inmate.
1-18 SECTION 2. Sections 1(a) and (b), Article 42.031, Code of
1-19 Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
1-20 (a) The sheriff of each county may attempt to secure
1-21 employment for each defendant sentenced to the county jail work
1-22 release program under Article 42.034 of this code, [and] each
1-23 defendant confined in the county jail awaiting transfer to the
1-24 institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
2-1 and each defendant transferred to the county jail work release
2-2 program from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice under Section
2-3 499.181, Government Code.
2-4 (b) The employer of a defendant participating in a program
2-5 under this article shall pay the defendant's salary to the sheriff.
2-6 The sheriff shall deposit the salary into a special fund to be
2-7 given to the defendant on his release after deducting:
2-8 (1) the cost to the county for the defendant's
2-9 confinement during the pay period based on the average daily cost
2-10 of confining defendants in the county jail, as determined by the
2-11 commissioners court of the county;
2-12 (2) support of the defendant's dependents; [and]
2-13 (3) restitution to the victims of an offense committed
2-14 by the defendant; and
2-15 (4) the cost of medical treatment incurred while
2-16 confined in the jail.
2-17 SECTION 3. Section 3(b), Article 42.031, Code of Criminal
2-18 Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
2-19 (b) If the sheriff determines that the defendant is
2-20 conducting himself in a manner that is dangerous to inmates in the
2-21 county jail or to society as a whole, the sheriff may remove the
2-22 defendant from participation in the program pending a hearing
2-23 before the sentencing court, unless the defendant was transferred
2-24 under Section 499.181, Government Code, in which event the sheriff
2-25 may return the defendant to the custody of the Texas Department of
2-26 Criminal Justice. At the hearing, if the court determines that the
2-27 sheriff's assessment of the defendant's conduct is correct, the
3-1 court may terminate the defendant's participation in the program
3-2 and order the defendant to the term of imprisonment that the
3-3 defendant would have received had he not entered the program. If
3-4 the court determines that the sheriff's assessment is incorrect,
3-5 the court shall order the sheriff to readmit the defendant to the
3-6 program. A defendant shall receive as credit toward his sentence
3-7 any time served as a participant in the program.
3-8 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.