By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 1948
(In the Senate - Filed March 12, 2009; March 24, 2009, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 1, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 1, 2009, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the supervised reentry into the community of certain
inmates nearing their date of discharge from the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 508, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 508.1491 to read as follows:
Sec. 508.1491. SUPERVISED REENTRY PROGRAM. (a) This
section applies to an inmate who is eligible for release on parole
but who has not been released on parole or to mandatory supervision
under this chapter before the date described by Subsection (b).
(b) A parole panel shall order the release of an inmate to
the supervised reentry program described by Subsection (c) on the
later of the following dates, as determined by the actual calendar
time the inmate has served, without consideration of good conduct
time:
(1) one year before the date on which the inmate will
discharge the inmate's sentence; or
(2) the date on which the inmate will have served 90
percent of the inmate's sentence.
(c) The department, to the extent practicable and before an
inmate is discharged, shall make arrangements for the inmate's
supervised reentry into the community. The inmate's supervised
reentry program shall provide the inmate with skills necessary to
make a transition from incarceration to the community, including
providing the inmate with appropriate substance abuse treatment,
counseling, and other social service programs.
(d) A parole panel releasing an inmate under this section
shall impose conditions that require the inmate to participate
fully in all treatment and counseling programs provided by the
department and may impose any other conditions determined by the
panel to be appropriate. An inmate who fails to comply with a
condition imposed under this subsection is subject to revocation or
other sanctions in the same manner and under the same procedures as
an inmate who fails to comply with conditions of parole or mandatory
supervision.
(e) The period of supervised reentry is computed by
subtracting from the term for which the inmate was sentenced the
calendar time served on the sentence. The time served on supervised
reentry is computed as calendar time, except that if an inmate's
participation in the supervised reentry program is revoked, the
inmate does not receive credit against the remainder of the
inmate's sentence for any time served in the program.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply to any
inmate serving a term of confinement in 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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