2021S0077-1 02/08/21
By: Bettencourt, LucioSpringer S.B. No. 654
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to protecting the right to free exercise of religion and
ensuring access to volunteer and faith-based chaplains and
chaplaincy services for inmates.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 501.009, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 501.009. VOLUNTEER AND FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS;
CHAPLAINS; REPORT. (a) The department shall adopt a policy that
requires each warden to identify volunteer and faith-based
organizations and chaplains that provide programs and services for
inmates housed in facilities operated by the department. The
policy must require each warden to actively encourage volunteer and
faith-based organizations and chaplains to provide the following
programs for inmates in the warden's facility:
(1) literacy and education programs;
(2) life skills programs;
(3) job skills programs;
(4) parent-training programs;
(5) drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs;
(6) support group programs;
(7) arts and crafts programs; and
(8) other programs and services determined by the
department to aid inmates in the transition between confinement and
society and to reduce incidence of recidivism among inmates.
(b) The policy adopted by the department must ensure that
inmates have access to the programs and services of volunteer and
faith-based chaplains. The department shall ensure that a
volunteer or faith-based chaplain formally designated for or
employed by each facility is able to:
(1) conduct religious services;
(2) provide pastoral care or spiritual guidance; and
(3) otherwise support inmates in the facility who wish
to receive or participate in those programs or services.
(c) Access to chaplains shall be reasonably facilitated to
the extent that one is available and willing to minister to inmates.
Any limitation on inmate access to a chaplain must be imposed in the
least restrictive manner, which may not:
(1) place an undue burden on:
(A) a chaplain; or
(B) an inmate's free exercise of religion; or
(2) endanger the safety or security of the facility.
(d) An inmate whose free exercise of religion has been
substantially burdened by a policy adopted under this section may:
(1) file a claim under an inmate grievance system,
including an inmate grievance system required under Section
501.008; or
(2) pursue any other remedy as allowed by law.
(e) The policy adopted by the department must require that
each warden submit a report to the board not later than December 31
of each year that includes, for the preceding fiscal year, a summary
of:
(1) the programs and services provided to inmates
under this section; [and]
(2) the actions taken by the warden to identify
volunteer and faith-based organizations and chaplains willing to
provide programs and services to inmates and to encourage those
organizations and chaplains to provide programs and services in the
warden's facility;
(3) any documentation related to a claim, defense, or
other legal action arising from an alleged violation of an inmate's
right to free exercise of religion; and
(4) any accommodation made or remedy undertaken by the
facility to resolve a claim of an inmate's right to free exercise of
religion having been burdened or violated.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.