GOVERNMENT CODE

TITLE 4. EXECUTIVE BRANCH

SUBTITLE G. CORRECTIONS

CHAPTER 494. INSTITUTIONAL DIVISION:  POLICY, DIRECTOR, AND STAFF

Sec. 494.001.  INSTITUTIONAL DIVISION MISSION.  The mission of the institutional division is to provide safe and appropriate confinement, supervision, rehabilitation, and reintegration of adult felons, and to effectively manage or administer correctional facilities based on constitutional and statutory standards.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, Sec. 10.01(a).  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 321, Sec. 1.012, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Sec. 494.002.  DIRECTOR.  (a)  The director of the institutional division may adopt policies governing the humane treatment, training, education, rehabilitation, and discipline of inmates and may arrange for the separation and classification of inmates according to the inmates' sex, age, health, corrigibility, and type of offense for which the inmate was sentenced to the institutional division.
(b)   In addition to a salary, the board shall provide the director of the institutional division with a house and reimburse the director for necessary expenses related to travel for the institutional division.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 212, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.  Renumbered from Sec. 493.001 and amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, Sec. 10.01(a), eff. Aug. 26, 1991.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 321, Sec. 1.013, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Sec. 494.003.  DIRECTOR'S ACCOUNTS.  (a)  The department shall keep a correct and accurate account of each financial transaction involving the institutional division, including the receipt and disbursement of money by the division.  The department shall keep an account of each institutional division unit, industry, and farm, and for each person doing business with the division.
(b)  The director of the institutional division or a designee of the director shall provide a receipt for all money received by the institutional division.
(c)  The director of the institutional division may require employees of the institutional division to make necessary reports at stated intervals.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 212, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Renumbered from Sec. 493.002 and amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, Sec. 10.01(a), eff. Aug. 26, 1991.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 321, Sec. 1.014, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Sec. 494.004.  DIRECTOR'S REPORTS.  The director of the institutional division shall make a complete report to the board at each regular meeting of the board.  The report must describe the fiscal affairs of the institutional division and the division's general fiscal condition.  On January 1 of each year the board shall require a complete inventory of institutional division property.  The inventory must contain a statement of the book and the actual market value of each item listed in the inventory and a statement of the fiscal condition of the institutional division as of January 1. The board shall prepare a sufficient number of copies of the inventory to make the inventory generally available for public inspection.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 212, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Renumbered from Sec. 493.003 and amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, Sec. 10.01(a), eff. Aug. 26, 1991.

Sec. 494.007.  EMPLOYEES' SALARIES, ROOM AND BOARD, MEDICAL CARE.  (a)  Salaries of employees of the institutional division and the provision of board, lodging, uniforms, and other provisions to employees are as provided by the General Appropriations Act.
(b)  The department, in preparing its biennial budget request, shall review the rent charged department employees for state-owned housing and the department's policy of providing rent-free state-owned housing to certain employees.  The department, as part of the budget request, shall adjust the rent charged employees as necessary to more closely reflect the market value of the housing and shall adjust the list of employees receiving rent-free housing if necessary to comply with the General Appropriations Act, state law, or policies on rent-free housing adopted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  If the department determines that no adjustment in rent charged to employees is necessary for a biennium, the department shall state that fact in the department's budget request.
(c)  Employees of the institutional division who are injured in the line of duty are entitled to receive free medical care and hospitalization from division doctors and the division hospital.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 212, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Renumbered from Sec. 493.008 and amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, Sec. 10.01(a), eff. Aug. 26, 1991.  Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 238, Sec. 2.01, eff. May 22, 1993.

Sec. 494.008.  DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES:  LIMITED LAW ENFORCEMENT POWERS.  (a)  The executive director or the executive director's designee may authorize employees of the department to transport offenders and to apprehend escapees from any division of the department.  An employee acting under authority granted by the executive director has the same powers and duties as a peace officer under the laws of this state, except that the employee may not act without receiving express orders from the executive director or the executive director's designee, and may exercise those powers and perform those duties throughout the state.
(b)  The department may allow employees who are granted law enforcement authority under this section to assist municipal, county, state, or federal law enforcement officers if:
(1)  the assistance is requested for an emergency situation that presents an immediate or potential threat to public safety if assistance is not received, including apprehending an escapee of a municipal or county jail or privately operated or federal correctional facility; and
(2)  the department determines that the assistance will not jeopardize the safety and security of the department and its personnel.
(b-1)  An employee who assists under Subsection (b) a law enforcement officer in the performance of the officer's duties has the same powers and duties as the officer requesting assistance.
(c)  An employee of the department may not enforce the laws of this state relating to the prevention of misdemeanors and the detention of persons who commit misdemeanors, including laws regulating traffic and the use of state highways.
(d)  An employee described by Subsection (a) may not be considered a peace officer for any purposes other than those specified under this section and is not required to be certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 212, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Renumbered from Sec. 493.009 and amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, Sec. 10.01(a), eff. Aug. 26, 1991;  Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 988, Sec. 1.04, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 322, Sec. 1, eff. May 29, 1999.
Amended by: 
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1308 (S.B. 909), Sec. 19, eff. June 15, 2007.
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 93 (S.B. 686), Sec. 2.28, eff. May 18, 2013.

Sec. 494.010.  EMPLOYEES' POSSESSION AND USE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS.  A rule adopted by the board that regulates the possession and use of tobacco products by department employees must provide that employees of the department are permitted to use tobacco products during work hours at times and locations designated by the board.  In designating locations at which the use of tobacco products is permitted, the board shall designate locations that:
(1)  are at a sufficient distance from a place at which employees regularly perform duties to ensure that no employee who abstains from the use of tobacco products is physically affected by the use of tobacco products at the location;  and
(2)  do not negatively affect the comfort or safety of any employee or inmate.
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 859, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.

Sec. 494.011.  ASSESSMENT OF UNIT DESIGN AND SECURITY SYSTEMS.  (a)  In order to ensure that the institutional division is managed effectively, the division not less than once every three years shall assess the long-term administrative segregation and maximum security needs of the division.  The institutional division shall report to the Legislative Criminal Justice Board the results of each assessment made under this section not later than one year after the assessment is completed.
(b)  The institutional division shall include in the assessment:
(1)  a feasibility study on the conversion of at least one maximum security facility into a medium security facility;
(2)  a review of the division's unit design prototypes to determine whether the prototypes could be improved by:
(A)  the use of new technologies;
(B)  redesign of interiors and exteriors to improve visibility within the prototypes;  or
(C)  the use of other cost-saving measures;
(3)  a feasibility study on increased use of closed-circuit camera technology, electronic perimeter detection technology, or other electronic technology;  and
(4)  a review of any other issues the division determines are relevant to the continued improvement and cost-effectiveness of the system's security system.
(c)  The institutional division shall include in the report to the Legislative Criminal Justice Board required by Subsection (a) with the results of the assessment:
(1)  a description, with documentation, of the distribution of levels of security within the institutional division;
(2)  a comparison of the distribution of levels of security within the division to the distribution of levels of security in prisons in other states;  and
(3)  if there is a disparity between the distribution of levels of security within the institutional division and that in prisons in other states, a discussion of whether that disparity is in the best interest of the institutional division.
Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 238, Sec. 3.01, eff. May 22, 1993.

Sec. 494.012.  MAINTENANCE STAFF.  (a)  The institutional division shall evaluate the efficiency of the maintenance staff of each unit of the division.
(b)  The institutional division may assign a staff member to more than one unit of the division to increase the efficiency of the maintenance staff.
(c)  The institutional division shall assign a maintenance staff member to two or more units of the division if the division determines that such an assignment is cost-effective.
(d)  The institutional division may not employ an assistant unit maintenance manager for a maintenance staff of a unit of the division unless the division determines that the employment of an assistant unit manager at that unit is cost-effective.
Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 238, Sec. 4.01, eff. May 22, 1993.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 321, Sec. 1.015, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.