By: Marquez H.B. No. 3763

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the release of inmates in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on parole or other forms of supervised release.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 508.045(a), Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) Except as provided by Sections [Section] 508.046 and 508.1451, board members and parole commissioners shall act in panels composed of three in matters of:

(1) release on parole;

(2) release to mandatory supervision; and

(3) revocation of parole or mandatory supervision.

SECTION 2. Chapter 508, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 508.1451 to read as follows:

Sec. 508.1451. RELEASE ON PAROLE OF CERTAIN ELDERLY INMATES. (a) For purposes of this section, "elderly inmate" means an inmate who is 65 years of age or older.

(b) Except as otherwise provided by this section, the department shall release on parole any elderly inmate, other than an inmate ineligible for parole under Section 508.145(a), not later than the inmate's initial parole eligibility date computed under Section 508.145.

(c) The presiding officer shall appoint a six-member panel to determine issues regarding the release on parole of elderly inmates under this section. To deny the release on parole of an elderly inmate under this section, at least four members of the panel must vote against the release.

(d) To assist the panel in making appropriate determinations under this section, the board shall contract with a public or private entity to prepare and submit to the board, not later than the 90th day before the inmate's release date under Subsection (b), written recommendations based on the opinions of not less than two licensed physicians regarding the elderly inmate and any health issues affecting the inmate. A member of the panel may vote for or against the inmate's release on parole only after the member has reviewed any written recommendations that are timely submitted to the board under this subsection.

(e) The board shall consider an elderly inmate for release on parole under this section not later than the 60th day before the inmate's initial parole eligibility date computed under Section 508.145. The board shall adopt a policy establishing the date on which the board may reconsider for release an inmate who has previously been denied release under this section. The policy must require the board to at least annually reconsider the inmate for release as soon as practicable after each anniversary of the date of denial.

SECTION 3. Section 508.146(a), Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) An inmate other than an inmate who is serving a sentence of death or life without parole may be released on medically recommended intensive supervision on a date designated by a parole panel described by Subsection (e)[, except that an inmate with an instant offense that is an offense described in Section 3g, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or an inmate who has a reportable conviction or adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, may only be considered if a medical condition of terminal illness or long term care has been diagnosed by a physician,] if:

(1) the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee, identifies the inmate as:

(A) being[:

[(A)] elderly, having a physical disability or terminal illness, or being a person with a mental illness or mental retardation;

(B) [physically disabled, mentally ill, terminally ill, or mentally retarded or] having a medical condition requiring long-term care, if the inmate is an inmate with an instant offense that is described in Section 3g, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure; or

(C) being [(B)] in a persistent vegetative state or being a person with an organic brain syndrome with significant to total mobility impairment, if the inmate is an inmate who has a reportable conviction or adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure;

(2) the parole panel determines that, based on the inmate's condition and a medical evaluation, the inmate does not constitute a threat to public safety; and

(3) the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the pardons and paroles division, has prepared for the inmate a medically recommended intensive supervision plan that requires the inmate to submit to electronic monitoring, places the inmate on super-intensive supervision, or otherwise ensures appropriate supervision of the inmate.

SECTION 4. Section 508.149, Government Code, is amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:

(b-1) Subsection (b) does not apply to an inmate who is serving a sentence for an offense under Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code.

SECTION 5. Section 508.283, Government Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a), (c), and (e) and adding Subsections (e-1), (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:

(a) After a parole panel or designated agent of the board has held a hearing under Section 508.281, in any manner warranted by the evidence:

(1) the board may recommend to the governor to continue, revoke, or modify the conditional pardon; and

(2) except as provided by Subsection (g), a parole panel may continue, revoke, or modify the parole or mandatory supervision.

(c) If the parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon of a person [other than a person described by Section 508.149(a)] is revoked, the person may be required to serve the remaining portion of the sentence on which the person was released. The [For a person who on the date of issuance of a warrant or summons initiating the revocation process is subject to a sentence the remaining portion of which is greater than the amount of time from the date of the person's release to the date of issuance of the warrant or summons, the] remaining portion of the sentence is to be served with [without] credit for the time from the date of the person's release to the date of the violation that resulted in the revocation. [For a person who on the date of issuance of the warrant or summons is subject to a sentence the remaining portion of which is less than the amount of time from the date of the person's release to the date of issuance of the warrant or summons, the remaining portion is to be served without credit for an amount of time equal to the remaining portion of the sentence on the date of issuance of the warrant or citation.]

(e) If a person's parole or mandatory supervision is modified after it is established that the person violated conditions of release, the parole panel [beard] may require the releasee to remain under custodial supervision in a county jail for a period of not less than 60 days or more than 180 days. The parole panel may require a person to remain under custodial supervision under this subsection each time the board modifies the person's parole or mandatory supervision.

(e-1) A sheriff is required to accept an inmate sanctioned under Subsection (e) [this subsection] only if the commissioners court of the county in which the sheriff serves and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice have entered into a contract providing for the housing of persons sanctioned under that [this] subsection.

(f) If a person's parole or mandatory supervision is modified and the parole panel requires the person to serve a term of confinement and treatment in a substance abuse treatment facility operated under Section 493.009 as a condition of the modification, the term must be not less than 180 days and not more than one year. This subsection does not apply to a releasee required to register as a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, or to a releasee in the super-intensive supervision program under Section 508.317(d).

(g) This subsection applies only to a person released on parole or to mandatory supervision after serving a sentence for an offense other than an offense listed under Section 3g(a)(1), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or an offense the judgment for which contains an affirmative finding under Section 3g(a)(2), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure. A parole panel may not revoke a person's parole or mandatory supervision under this section if the person:

(1) committed only an administrative violation of a condition of release; or

(2) has been adjudicated guilty of or has pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to an offense punishable as a misdemeanor that is committed after release, other than an offense under Section 545.421, Transportation Code.

(h) Notwithstanding Subsection (g) a parole panel may revoke a person's parole or mandatory supervision under this section if the person:

(1) has failed to report to the parole officer supervising the person for a period of at least one year; or

(2) is arrested outside of this state on a warrant issued under Section 508.251.

SECTION 6. Subchapter I, Chapter 508, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 508.2831 to read as follows:

Sec. 508.2831. SANCTION: CONFINEMENT IN INTERMEDIATE SANCTION FACILITY. (a) After a hearing under Section 508.281, if a parole panel modifies a person's parole or mandatory supervision because the person violated the person's conditions of release, the panel may require the person to remain under custodial supervision in an intermediate sanction facility operated by or under contract with the department for a term of not less than 60 days or more than one year. This subsection does not apply to a releasee required to register as a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, or to a releasee in the super-intensive supervision program under Section 508.317(d).

(b) A parole panel may require a person to remain under custodial supervision as described by Subsection (a) each time the panel modifies the person's parole or mandatory supervision.

SECTION 7. Section 508.283(b), Government Code, is repealed.

SECTION 8. Not later than January 1, 2012, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall release on parole any elderly inmate, as defined by Section 508.1451, Government Code, as added by this Act, with respect to whom a parole panel has not denied release on parole under that section.

SECTION 9. Section 508.146(a), Government Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to the release of an inmate under that section on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of when the offense for which the inmate is serving a sentence was committed.

SECTION 10. Section 508.149(b-1), Government Code, as added by this Act, applies to any inmate serving a term of imprisonment in a facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of when the inmate was sentenced to serve that term.

SECTION 11. Sections 508.283(a) and (e), Government Code, as amended by this Act, and Sections 508.283(e-1), (f), (g), and (h) and 508.2831, Government Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a determination by a parole panel made on or after the effective date of this Act. A determination made before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect on the date the determination was made, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 12. The change in law made by this Act in amending Section 508.283(c), Government Code, and repealing Section 508.283(b), Government Code, applies only to the calculation of the remaining sentence for an inmate whose release on parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon is revoked on or after the effective date of this Act. The calculation of the remaining sentence for an inmate whose release on parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon is revoked before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 13. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.