Amend CSSB 213 (house committee printing) by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTION to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:

SECTION ____.  (a) In this section, "department" means the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

(b)  The Criminal Justice Legislative Oversight Committee shall appoint an independent third party to conduct a review of the department's policies and procedures regarding the use of administrative segregation and related statistics, including:

(1)  classification to administrative segregation and release from administrative segregation;

(2)  security threat group classification;

(3)  notification of release and release procedures;

(4)  access of inmates confined in administrative segregation to:

(A)  mental health services;

(B)  health care services;

(C)  substance abuse programs and services;

(D)  reentry resources and transitional programs and services;

(E)  programs and services for inmates who are veterans; and

(F)  other programs and services that are available to the general inmate population;

(5)  the number of inmates confined in administrative segregation who were younger than 21 years of age;

(6)  the number of inmates confined in administrative segregation who were referred to mental health professionals;

(7)  the average length of time inmates were continuously confined in administrative segregation; and

(8)  the rate of recidivism among inmates who were confined in administrative segregation at any time before the inmates' release or discharge from the department.

(c)  Not later than December 31, 2014, the independent third party shall provide a report of the third party's findings and recommendations to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the standing legislative committees with primary jurisdiction over criminal justice matters. At a minimum, the report must contain detailed recommendations to:

(1)  reduce the administrative segregation population in facilities operated by or under contract with the department;

(2)  divert inmates with mental illness from administrative segregation; and

(3)  decrease the length of time inmates are confined in administrative segregation in facilities operated by or under contract with the department.

(d)  Chapter 552, Government Code, applies to:

(1)  the review conducted by the independent third party under this section and all information gathered and analyzed for that review, including background research and any report or summary; and

(2)  the report submitted by the independent third party under Subsection (c).

(e)  This section expires February 1, 2015.