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78R420 GWK-F
By: Hodge H.B. No. 192
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to reviews by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on
the effect of race and ethnicity on decisions relating to good
conduct time classifications and disciplinary matters.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 501.001, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 501.001. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST INMATES PROHIBITED.
(a) The institutional division and the director of the
institutional division may not discriminate against an inmate on
the basis of the inmate's sex, race, color, creed, or national
origin.
(b) The director of the institutional division shall before
January 1 of each odd-numbered year review decisions made during
the preceding two years by the division in its various units
regarding inmate disciplinary matters and good conduct time
classifications. On the basis of the review, the director shall
determine whether race or ethnicity was a factor in either
decision-making process. If the director determines that decisions
in a unit differed on the basis of the race or ethnicity of an inmate
who was the subject of a decision involving disciplinary matters or
good conduct time classification, the director shall further
investigate the decision-making process at the unit and require the
warden of the unit to correct inequalities.
SECTION 2. The first review of decision-making required by
Section 501.001, Government Code, as amended by this Act, must be
completed before January 1, 2005.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.