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.