By Dutton                                              H.B. No. 859
         77R603 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to in-prison geriatric communities.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 501, Government Code, is
 1-5     amended by adding Section 501.094 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 501.094. IN-PRISON GERIATRIC COMMUNITIES.  (a)  The
 1-7     institutional division shall establish a program to confine and
 1-8     treat in in-prison geriatric communities inmates who are 60 years
 1-9     of age or older.
1-10           (b)  The institutional division and the Texas Department on
1-11     Aging shall jointly develop methods of screening and assessing
1-12     inmates to determine their needs as geriatric inmates.  The
1-13     institutional division shall screen for geriatric problems each
1-14     inmate in the custody of the institutional division no later than
1-15     the inmate's 58th birthday.
1-16           (c)  The program must consist of a treatment program of
1-17     indeterminate length that addresses the special problems of
1-18     geriatric inmates.
1-19           (d)  The institutional division shall separate inmates
1-20     participating in the program from the general population of the
1-21     division and house the inmates in discrete units or areas within
1-22     units, except during the diagnostic process or at other times
1-23     determined to be necessary by the division for medical or security
1-24     purposes.
 2-1           (e)  The institutional division shall employ or contract with
 2-2     qualified professionals to implement the program.  For purposes of
 2-3     this subsection, a "qualified professional" is a person who:
 2-4                 (1)  is a certified social worker or advanced clinical
 2-5     practitioner and who has at least two years of experience in
 2-6     geriatric counseling; or
 2-7                 (2)  is a licensed professional counselor, physician,
 2-8     or psychologist and who has at least two years of experience in
 2-9     geriatric counseling.
2-10           (f)  The institutional division shall adopt rules of conduct
2-11     for inmates participating in the program.
2-12           (g)  If the qualified professional implementing the program
2-13     determines that an inmate is not complying with the rules of the
2-14     program, the qualified professional shall notify the institutional
2-15     division of that fact and the institutional division shall end the
2-16     inmate's participation in the program and transfer the inmate out
2-17     of the program.
2-18           (h)  The institutional division shall provide at least 800
2-19     beds for housing participants in the program.  The institutional
2-20     division not less often than every two years shall determine
2-21     whether the division should increase the number of beds provided by
2-22     the  division for the program.
2-23           (i)  If funding is available, the Criminal Justice Policy
2-24     Council, with the assistance of the institutional division, shall
2-25     develop methods to evaluate the processes used by the division in
2-26     providing the program and the level of success achieved by the
2-27     program.
 3-1           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.