1-1     By:  Whitmire                                         S.B. No. 1610

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;

 1-4     April 18, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 18, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the county jail work release program and to

 1-9     participation by certain inmates of the Texas Department of

1-10     Criminal Justice, with the approval of a sheriff, in that program.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Chapter 499, Government Code, is amended by

1-13     adding Subchapter H to read as follows:

1-14         SUBCHAPTER H.  TRANSFER TO COUNTY JAIL WORK RELEASE PROGRAM

1-15           Sec. 499.181.  INMATES ELIGIBLE FOR TRANSFER.  (a)  An inmate

1-16     is eligible for transfer under this section if the inmate is

1-17     confined in a facility operated by or under contract with the

1-18     department and has achieved or is within one year of achieving the

1-19     inmate's presumptive parole date or mandatory supervision release

1-20     date.

1-21           (b)  The department may transfer an eligible inmate to a

1-22     county jail for participation in the county jail work release

1-23     program if the sheriff approves the transfer of the inmate.

1-24           SECTION 2.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 1, Article

1-25     42.031, Code of Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:

1-26           (a)  The sheriff of each county may attempt to secure

1-27     employment for each defendant sentenced to the county jail work

1-28     release program under Article 42.034 of this code, [and] each

1-29     defendant confined in the county jail awaiting transfer to the

1-30     institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,

1-31     and each defendant transferred to the county jail work release

1-32     program from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice under Section

1-33     499.181, Government Code.

1-34           (b)  The employer of a defendant participating in a program

1-35     under this article shall pay the defendant's salary to the sheriff.

1-36     The sheriff shall deposit the salary into a special fund to be

1-37     given to the defendant on his release after deducting:

1-38                 (1)  the cost to the county for the defendant's

1-39     confinement during the pay period based on the average daily cost

1-40     of confining defendants in the county jail, as determined by the

1-41     commissioners court of the county;

1-42                 (2)  support of the defendant's dependents; [and]

1-43                 (3)  restitution to the victims of an offense committed

1-44     by the defendant; and

1-45                 (4)  the cost of medical treatment incurred while

1-46     confined in the jail.

1-47           SECTION 3.  Subsection (b), Section 3, Article 42.031, Code

1-48     of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

1-49           (b)  If the sheriff determines that the defendant is

1-50     conducting himself in a manner that is dangerous to inmates in the

1-51     county jail or to society as a whole, the sheriff may remove the

1-52     defendant from participation in the program pending a hearing

1-53     before the sentencing court unless the defendant was transferred

1-54     under Section 499.181, Government Code, in which event the sheriff

1-55     may return the  defendant to the custody of the Texas Department of

1-56     Criminal Justice.  At the hearing, if the court determines that the

1-57     sheriff's assessment of the defendant's conduct is correct, the

1-58     court may terminate the defendant's participation in the program

1-59     and order the defendant to the term of imprisonment that the

1-60     defendant would have received had he not entered the program.  If

1-61     the court determines that the sheriff's assessment is incorrect,

1-62     the court shall order the sheriff to readmit the defendant to the

1-63     program.  A defendant shall receive as credit toward his sentence

1-64     any time served as a participant in the program.

 2-1           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-2           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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