By: Marquez H.B. No. 3763
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the release of inmates in the custody of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice on parole or other forms of
supervised release.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 508.045(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Sections [Section] 508.046 and
508.1451, board members and parole commissioners shall act in
panels composed of three in matters of:
(1) release on parole;
(2) release to mandatory supervision; and
(3) revocation of parole or mandatory supervision.
SECTION 2. Chapter 508, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 508.1451 to read as follows:
Sec. 508.1451. RELEASE ON PAROLE OF CERTAIN ELDERLY
INMATES. (a) For purposes of this section, "elderly inmate" means
an inmate who is 65 years of age or older.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this section, the
department shall release on parole any elderly inmate, other than
an inmate ineligible for parole under Section 508.145(a), not later
than the inmate's initial parole eligibility date computed under
Section 508.145.
(c) The presiding officer shall appoint a six-member panel
to determine issues regarding the release on parole of elderly
inmates under this section. To deny the release on parole of an
elderly inmate under this section, at least four members of the
panel must vote against the release.
(d) To assist the panel in making appropriate
determinations under this section, the board shall contract with a
public or private entity to prepare and submit to the board, not
later than the 90th day before the inmate's release date under
Subsection (b), written recommendations based on the opinions of
not less than two licensed physicians regarding the elderly inmate
and any health issues affecting the inmate. A member of the panel
may vote for or against the inmate's release on parole only after
the member has reviewed any written recommendations that are timely
submitted to the board under this subsection.
(e) The board shall consider an elderly inmate for release
on parole under this section not later than the 60th day before the
inmate's initial parole eligibility date computed under Section
508.145. The board shall adopt a policy establishing the date on
which the board may reconsider for release an inmate who has
previously been denied release under this section. The policy must
require the board to at least annually reconsider the inmate for
release as soon as practicable after each anniversary of the date of
denial.
SECTION 3. Section 508.146(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) An inmate other than an inmate who is serving a sentence
of death or life without parole may be released on medically
recommended intensive supervision on a date designated by a parole
panel described by Subsection (e)[, except that an inmate with an
instant offense that is an offense described in Section 3g, Article
42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or an inmate who has a reportable
conviction or adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal
Procedure, may only be considered if a medical condition of
terminal illness or long term care has been diagnosed by a
physician,] if:
(1) the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with
Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the Correctional
Managed Health Care Committee, identifies the inmate as:
(A) being[:
[(A)] elderly, having a physical disability or
terminal illness, or being a person with a mental illness or mental
retardation;
(B) [physically disabled, mentally ill,
terminally ill, or mentally retarded or] having a medical condition
requiring long-term care, if the inmate is an inmate with an instant
offense that is described in Section 3g, Article 42.12, Code of
Criminal Procedure; or
(C) being [(B)] in a persistent vegetative state
or being a person with an organic brain syndrome with significant to
total mobility impairment, if the inmate is an inmate who has a
reportable conviction or adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of
Criminal Procedure;
(2) the parole panel determines that, based on the
inmate's condition and a medical evaluation, the inmate does not
constitute a threat to public safety; and
(3) the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with
Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the pardons and
paroles division, has prepared for the inmate a medically
recommended intensive supervision plan that requires the inmate to
submit to electronic monitoring, places the inmate on
super-intensive supervision, or otherwise ensures appropriate
supervision of the inmate.
SECTION 4. Section 508.149, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b-1) Subsection (b) does not apply to an inmate who is
serving a sentence for an offense under Chapter 481, Health and
Safety Code.
SECTION 5. Section 508.283, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (c), and (e) and adding Subsections
(e-1), (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
(a) After a parole panel or designated agent of the board
has held a hearing under Section 508.281, in any manner warranted by
the evidence:
(1) the board may recommend to the governor to
continue, revoke, or modify the conditional pardon; and
(2) except as provided by Subsection (g), a parole
panel may continue, revoke, or modify the parole or mandatory
supervision.
(c) If the parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional
pardon of a person [other than a person described by Section
508.149(a)] is revoked, the person may be required to serve the
remaining portion of the sentence on which the person was released.
The [For a person who on the date of issuance of a warrant or summons
initiating the revocation process is subject to a sentence the
remaining portion of which is greater than the amount of time from
the date of the person's release to the date of issuance of the
warrant or summons, the] remaining portion of the sentence is to be
served with [without] credit for the time from the date of the
person's release to the date of the violation that resulted in the
revocation. [For a person who on the date of issuance of the warrant
or summons is subject to a sentence the remaining portion of which
is less than the amount of time from the date of the person's
release to the date of issuance of the warrant or summons, the
remaining portion is to be served without credit for an amount of
time equal to the remaining portion of the sentence on the date of
issuance of the warrant or citation.]
(e) If a person's parole or mandatory supervision is
modified after it is established that the person violated
conditions of release, the parole panel [beard] may require the
releasee to remain under custodial supervision in a county jail for
a period of not less than 60 days or more than 180 days. The parole
panel may require a person to remain under custodial supervision
under this subsection each time the board modifies the person's
parole or mandatory supervision.
(e-1) A sheriff is required to accept an inmate sanctioned
under Subsection (e) [this subsection] only if the commissioners
court of the county in which the sheriff serves and the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice have entered into a contract
providing for the housing of persons sanctioned under that [this]
subsection.
(f) If a person's parole or mandatory supervision is
modified and the parole panel requires the person to serve a term of
confinement and treatment in a substance abuse treatment facility
operated under Section 493.009 as a condition of the modification,
the term must be not less than 180 days and not more than one year.
This subsection does not apply to a releasee required to register as
a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, or to a
releasee in the super-intensive supervision program under Section
508.317(d).
(g) This subsection applies only to a person released on
parole or to mandatory supervision after serving a sentence for an
offense other than an offense listed under Section 3g(a)(1),
Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or an offense the
judgment for which contains an affirmative finding under Section
3g(a)(2), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure. A parole
panel may not revoke a person's parole or mandatory supervision
under this section if the person:
(1) committed only an administrative violation of a
condition of release; or
(2) has been adjudicated guilty of or has pleaded
guilty or nolo contendere to an offense punishable as a misdemeanor
that is committed after release, other than an offense under
Section 545.421, Transportation Code.
(h) Notwithstanding Subsection (g) a parole panel may
revoke a person's parole or mandatory supervision under this
section if the person:
(1) has failed to report to the parole officer
supervising the person for a period of at least one year; or
(2) is arrested outside of this state on a warrant
issued under Section 508.251.
SECTION 6. Subchapter I, Chapter 508, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 508.2831 to read as follows:
Sec. 508.2831. SANCTION: CONFINEMENT IN INTERMEDIATE
SANCTION FACILITY. (a) After a hearing under Section 508.281, if
a parole panel modifies a person's parole or mandatory supervision
because the person violated the person's conditions of release, the
panel may require the person to remain under custodial supervision
in an intermediate sanction facility operated by or under contract
with the department for a term of not less than 60 days or more than
one year. This subsection does not apply to a releasee required to
register as a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal
Procedure, or to a releasee in the super-intensive supervision
program under Section 508.317(d).
(b) A parole panel may require a person to remain under
custodial supervision as described by Subsection (a) each time the
panel modifies the person's parole or mandatory supervision.
SECTION 7. Section 508.283(b), Government Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 8. Not later than January 1, 2012, the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice shall release on parole any elderly
inmate, as defined by Section 508.1451, Government Code, as added
by this Act, with respect to whom a parole panel has not denied
release on parole under that section.
SECTION 9. Section 508.146(a), Government Code, as amended
by this Act, applies only to the release of an inmate under that
section on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of
when the offense for which the inmate is serving a sentence was
committed.
SECTION 10. Section 508.149(b-1), Government Code, as added
by this Act, applies to any inmate serving a term of imprisonment in
a facility operated by or under contract with 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 11. Sections 508.283(a) and (e), Government Code,
as amended by this Act, and Sections 508.283(e-1), (f), (g), and (h)
and 508.2831, Government Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a
determination by a parole panel made on or after the effective date
of this Act. A determination made before the effective date of this
Act is covered by the law in effect on the date the determination
was made, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 12. The change in law made by this Act in amending
Section 508.283(c), Government Code, and repealing Section
508.283(b), Government Code, applies only to the calculation of the
remaining sentence for an inmate whose release on parole, mandatory
supervision, or conditional pardon is revoked on or after the
effective date of this Act. The calculation of the remaining
sentence for an inmate whose release on parole, mandatory
supervision, or conditional pardon is revoked before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before
the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 13. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.