By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1839
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the detention of certain juvenile offenders.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsections (c-1) and (f), Section 51.12, Family
  Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (c-1)  The Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Probation
  Commission] shall annually inspect each public or private juvenile
  pre-adjudication secure detention facility.  The department [Texas
  Juvenile Probation Commission] shall provide a report to each
  juvenile court judge presiding in the same county as an inspected
  facility indicating whether the facility is suitable or unsuitable
  for the detention of children in accordance with:
               (1)  the requirements of Subsections (a) and[,] (f)[,
  and (g)]; and
               (2)  minimum professional standards for the detention
  of children in pre-adjudication secure confinement promulgated by
  the Texas Juvenile Justice Board [Probation Commission] or, at the
  election of the juvenile board of the county in which the facility
  is located, the current standards promulgated by the American
  Correctional Association.
         (f)  A child detained in a building that contains a jail,
  lockup, or other place of secure confinement, including an alcohol
  or other drug treatment facility, shall be separated by sight and
  sound from adults detained in the same building.  Children and
  adults are separated by sight and sound only if they are unable to
  see each other and conversation between them is not possible.  The
  separation must extend to all areas of the facility, including
  sally ports and passageways, and those areas used for admission,
  counseling, sleeping, toileting, showering, dining, recreational,
  educational, or vocational activities, and health care.  The
  separation may be accomplished through architectural design.  If
  incidental contact between the child and detained adults is
  possible at the facility, staff must directly supervise the child
  during all times incidental contact is possible.  A person who has
  been transferred for prosecution in criminal court under Section
  54.02 and is under 17 years of age is considered a child for the
  purposes of this subsection.
         SECTION 2.  Subsection (h), Section 54.02, Family Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (h)  If the juvenile court waives jurisdiction, it shall
  state specifically in the order its reasons for waiver and certify
  its action, including the written order and findings of the court,
  and shall transfer the person to the appropriate court for criminal
  proceedings and cause the results of the diagnostic study of the
  person ordered under Subsection (d), including psychological
  information, to be transferred to the appropriate criminal
  prosecutor.  On transfer of the person for criminal proceedings,
  the person shall be dealt with as an adult and in accordance with
  the Code of Criminal Procedure, except that if detention in a
  certified juvenile detention facility is authorized under Section
  152.0015, Human Resources Code, the juvenile court may order the
  person to be detained in the facility pending trial or until the
  criminal court enters an order under Article 4.19, Code of Criminal
  Procedure. A person who is ordered to be detained in a juvenile
  detention facility and who is under 17 years of age is considered a
  child for purposes of Section 51.12.  A transfer of custody made
  under this subsection is an arrest.
         SECTION 3.  Subsection (g), Section 51.12, Family Code, is
  repealed.
         SECTION 4.  The change in law made by this Act applies to a
  child detained on or after the effective date of this Act,
  regardless of whether the conduct for which the child was detained
  occurred before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.