CHAPTER 494. INSTITUTIONAL DIVISION: POLICY, DIRECTOR, AND STAFF
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 Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and
Education.
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, Sec. 19, eff. June 15, 2007.
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.