By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 1948
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1948:
By: Madden C.S.S.B. No. 1948
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a study regarding a supervised reentry program for
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. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
(1) "Board" means the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
(2) "Department" means the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice.
SECTION 2. STUDY. The board and the department shall
jointly conduct a study regarding the implementation of a
supervised reentry program for inmates nearing their date of
discharge from the department. In conducting the study, the board
and the department shall examine whether:
(1) a parole panel should be statutorily required to
order the release of an inmate to a supervised reentry program if
the inmate is eligible for release on parole but has not been
released on parole or to mandatory supervision on the later of the
following dates, as determined by the actual calendar time the
inmate has served, without consideration of good conduct time:
(A) one year before the date on which the inmate
will discharge the inmate's sentence; or
(B) the date on which the inmate will have served
90 percent of the inmate's sentence;
(2) the department should be required to make
arrangements, to the extent practicable and before an inmate is
discharged, for the inmate's supervised reentry into the community;
(3) the inmate's supervised reentry program should
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;
(4) a parole panel releasing an inmate to a supervised
reentry program should require the inmate as a condition of that
release to participate fully in all treatment and counseling
programs provided by the department;
(5) an inmate who fails to comply with a condition of
release to a supervised reentry program should be 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
release on parole or to mandatory supervision;
(6) the inmate's period of supervised reentry should
be computed by subtracting from the term for which the inmate was
sentenced the calendar time the inmate served on the sentence
before the inmate's release to a supervised reentry program;
(7) the time served by the inmate on supervised
reentry should be computed as additional calendar time the inmate
served on the sentence; and
(8) an inmate released to a supervised reentry program
should be monitored through a super-intensive supervision program.
SECTION 3. REPORT. Not later than May 1, 2010, the board
and the department shall jointly report the results of the study
conducted under this Act to the governor, the lieutenant governor,
the speaker of the house of representatives, the Criminal Justice
Legislative Oversight Committee, and the standing committees in the
senate and the house of representatives that have primary
jurisdiction over corrections.
SECTION 4. EXPIRATION. This Act expires September 1, 2010.
SECTION 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect
immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members
elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas
Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for
immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.