76R8140 GWK-D
By Hardcastle H.B. No. 1198
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1198:
By Swinford C.S.H.B. No. 1198
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to work projects on which the labor of inmates confined in
1-3 county jail may be used.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Art. 43.10. MANUAL LABOR. Where the punishment assessed in
1-8 a conviction for misdemeanor is confinement in jail for more than
1-9 one day, or where in such conviction the punishment is assessed
1-10 only at a pecuniary fine and the party so convicted is unable to
1-11 pay the fine and costs adjudged against him, or where the party is
1-12 sentenced to jail for a felony or is confined in jail after
1-13 conviction of a felony, the party convicted shall be required to
1-14 work in the county jail industries program or shall be required to
1-15 do manual labor in accordance with the provisions of this article
1-16 under the following rules and regulations:
1-17 1. Each commissioners court may provide for the
1-18 erection of a workhouse and the establishment of a county farm in
1-19 connection therewith for the purpose of utilizing the labor of said
1-20 parties so convicted;
1-21 2. Such farms and workhouses shall be under the
1-22 control and management of the sheriff, and the sheriff may adopt
1-23 such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the rules and
1-24 regulations of the Commission on Jail Standards and with the laws
2-1 as the sheriff deems necessary;
2-2 3. Such overseers and guards may be employed by the
2-3 sheriff under the authority of the commissioners court as may be
2-4 necessary to prevent escapes and to enforce such labor, and they
2-5 shall be paid out of the county treasury such compensation as the
2-6 commissioners court may prescribe;
2-7 4. They shall be put to labor upon:
2-8 (A) public works and maintenance projects,
2-9 including public works and maintenance projects for a political
2-10 subdivision located in whole or in part in the county; or
2-11 (B) works and maintenance projects for nonprofit
2-12 public service organizations certified as eligible organizations by
2-13 the commissioners court;
2-14 5. One who from age, disease, or other physical or
2-15 mental disability is unable to do manual labor shall not be
2-16 required to work. His inability to do manual labor may be
2-17 determined by a physician appointed for that purpose by the county
2-18 judge or the commissioners court, who shall be paid for such
2-19 service such compensation as said court may allow; and
2-20 6. For each day of manual labor, in addition to any
2-21 other credits allowed by law, a defendant is entitled to have one
2-22 day deducted from each sentence he is serving. The deduction
2-23 authorized by this article, when combined with the deduction
2-24 required by Article 42.10 of this code, may not exceed two-thirds
2-25 (2/3) of the sentence.
2-26 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-4 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-5 passage, and it is so enacted.