The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure as it relates to awarding diligent participation credit to individuals serving a term of confinement for a state jail felony offense. Under the provisions of the bill, an individual serving a sentence for a state jail felony offense can, in certain cases, earn time credit for diligently participating in an educational, vocational, treatment, or work programs while confined in a county jail prior to transfer to a state jail facility.  A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000 or a Class A misdemeanor punishment. Providing an opportunity for time credit is expected to result in fewer demands on the State due to shorter terms of confinement within state correctional institutions.

Under current statute, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) awards diligent participation credit to those confined in state jail facilities for each day individuals diligently participate in educational, vocational, treatment, or work programs. These individuals are able to receive credit for a maximum of 20 percent of their sentence length. For some individuals, a judgment can contain a finding that the incarcerated individual is presumptively entitled to diligent participation credit. For those without presumptive findings, when the individual has served almost 80 percent of the sentence, TDCJ reports to the sentencing court about the individual and the judge may credit additional time up to 20 percent. In fiscal year 2018, 52.2 percent (8,876)  of state jail releases received some amount of diligent participation credit with an average of 20.8 days awarded. 

To calculate the additional diligent participation credit that could be awarded to those with state jail offenses within state jails, we analyzed those with concurrent state jail felony sentences released from state jail in fiscal year 2018. We assumed that all individuals have the potential while in county jails to meet the programmatic requirements to earn credit. For individuals with a presumptive finding, we assumed they would be credited the maximum possible additional time spent in county jail (20 percent). For those without a presumptive finding but awarded a portion of the total diligent participation time credit available, we assumed these individuals would receive the same proportion of the maximum possible additional time based on the proportions awarded historically. For those who did not receive or earn any diligent participation credit, we assumed these individuals would not earn any under the provisions of the bill. Based on information from TDCJ, the time spent in county jail was estimated by subtracting the time spent in a state jail facility from the sentence length (sentence length - (released date - received date)). After calculating the total number of bed days awarded for time spent in county jail, bed days were converted into the number of beds available per year and adjusted based on the projections published in the January 2019 Adult and Juvenile Correctional Population Projections report.

Assuming that sentencing patterns and release policies not addressed in this bill remain constant, the probable impact of implementing the provisions of the bill during each of the first five fiscal years following passage, in terms of daily demand upon the adult corrections agencies, is estimated as follows: