Title GV, Government Code

Sec. 493.028. INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT ON CRIMINAL OFFENSES. (a) In this section, "special prosecution unit" means the special prosecution unit established under Subchapter E, Chapter 41. (b) The inspector general of the department shall on a quarterly basis prepare and deliver t…

Sec. 493.029. LOCAL AND REGIONAL RELEASE AND DISCHARGE PROCEDURE. (a) The department shall establish a procedure through which an inmate being discharged from the department or being released on parole or to mandatory supervision is discharged or released, as applicable, from: (1…

Sec. 493.030. NOTICE TO SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. (a) The department shall notify the United States Social Security Administration of the release or discharge of a prisoner who: (1) immediately before the prisoner's confinement in a state correctional facility, was receivin…

Sec. 493.031. CASE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES. (a) Each facility under the oversight of the correctional institutions division shall establish a case management committee to assess each inmate in the facility and ensure the inmate is receiving appropriate services or participating in …

Sec. 493.032. CORRECTIONAL OFFICER TRAINING RELATED TO PREGNANT INMATES. (a) The department shall provide training relating to medical and mental health care issues applicable to pregnant inmates to: (1) each correctional officer employed by the department at a facility in which …

Sec. 493.0325. CORRECTIONAL OFFICER TRAINING ON DE-ESCALATION, CRISIS INTERVENTION, AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH. (a) This section applies to: (1) a correctional officer employed by the department; and (2) a department employee responsible for the direct supervision of correctional offi…

Sec. 493.033. AVAILABILITY OF PEER SUPPORT SERVICES. (a) The department shall adopt a policy to increase the availability of formal and informal peer support services, including certified peer specialist services, to a person confined in a facility operated by or under contract w…

Sec. 493.034. EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING PILOT PROGRAM. (a) The department shall establish a pilot program to provide educational and vocational training, employment, and reentry services to: (1) defendants placed on community supervision under Article 42A.562, Code of C…

Sec. 493.035. UNCLAIMED PROPERTY CLAIMS FILED ON BEHALF OF CRIME VICTIMS. (a) The department shall file a claim for unclaimed property under Section 74.501, Property Code, on behalf of a victim of a criminal offense if the reported owner of the unclaimed property: (1) was finally…

Sec. 493.036. LONG-TERM FACILITIES PLAN. (a) The department shall prepare a 10-year plan that identifies the department's facility and capacity needs. (b) In developing the plan under Subsection (a), the department: (1) must consider the various regional needs of the state, inclu…

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 constit…

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,…

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 instit…

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 J…

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 prep…

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 u…

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 …

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 ma…

Sec. 495.001. AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT. (a) The board may contract with a private vendor or with the commissioners court of a county for the financing, construction, operation, maintenance, or management of a secure correctional facility. (b) A facility operated, maintained, and man…

Sec. 495.002. INMATES. The institutional division may confine only minimum or medium security inmates in a facility authorized by this subchapter. An inmate confined in a facility authorized by this subchapter remains in the legal custody of the institutional division . Added by …

Sec. 495.003. CONTRACT PROPOSALS; QUALIFICATIONS AND STANDARDS. (a) The board may not award a contract under this subchapter unless the board requests proposals and receives a proposal that meets or exceeds, in addition to requirements specified in the request for proposals, the …

Sec. 495.004. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OVER INMATES. A private vendor or county operating under a contract authorized by this subchapter may not: (1) compute inmate release and parole eligibility dates; (2) award good conduct time; (3) approve an inmate for work, medical, or tempo…

Sec. 495.005. CIVIL LIABILITY. A private vendor operating under a contract authorized by this subchapter may not claim sovereign immunity in a suit arising from the services performed under the contract by the private vendor or county. This section does not deprive the private ve…

Sec. 495.006. CONVERSION OF FACILITY. The board may not convert a facility into a correctional facility operated by a private vendor or by a county if, before April 14, 1987, the facility is: (1) operated as a correctional facility by the board; or (2) being constructed by the bo…

Sec. 495.007. LIMITATION. The board may not enter into contracts under this subchapter for more than 5,580 beds. Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., 2nd C.S., ch. 10, Sec. 2.02, eff. Dec. 1, 1991. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 238, Sec. 6.01, eff. May 22, 1993; Acts 1999, 76th …

Sec. 495.008. AUDITING AND MONITORING CONTRACTS. (a) The department shall develop a comprehensive methodology for enhanced auditing and monitoring of all facilities operated under contract with the department that house inmates of the department and releasees under the supervisio…

Sec. 495.021. LEASE-PURCHASE, INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS. (a) The board may contract with the commissioners court of a county to use, lease-purchase, purchase on an installment contract, or acquire in any other manner a secure correctional facility financed and constructed under the a…

Sec. 495.022. CONTRACTS WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. (a) The board may contract with the federal government for the lease of any military base or other federal facility that is not being used by the federal government. (b) A facility leased under this section may be used by the insti…

Sec. 495.023. CONTRACTS FOR DIAGNOSTIC AND EVALUATION SERVICES. (a) The institutional division shall request proposals and may award one contract to a private vendor or community supervision and corrections department to screen and diagnose, either before or after adjudications o…

Sec. 495.024. RELEASE OF OUT-OF-STATE INMATES. A county or a municipality or a private vendor operating a correctional facility under a contract with a county under Subchapter F, Chapter 351, Local Government Code, or a municipality under Subchapter E, Chapter 361, Local Governme…

Sec. 495.025. CERTAIN COMMISSARY CONTRACTS; TASTE TESTS. (a) For the purchase of commissary food goods, the department may conduct a taste test as consideration for a bid award only if, to conduct the test, the department contracts with a private marketing vendor, a university, o…

Sec. 495.026. PRODUCT BUNDLING, BULK PURCHASING, AND VENDOR DISCOUNTS. The department may provide for the practice of bundling products into categories to ensure savings through bulk purchasing, discounts for advance invoice payments, and online ordering. Added by Acts 2007, 80th…

Sec. 495.027. INMATE PAY TELEPHONE SERVICE. (a) The board shall request proposals from private vendors for a contract to provide pay telephone service to eligible inmates confined in facilities operated by the department. The board may not consider a proposal or award a contract …

Sec. 495.028. IMPLEMENTATION OF REENTRY AND REINTEGRATION PLAN. (a) The department may contract and coordinate with private vendors, units of local government, or other entities to implement the comprehensive reentry and reintegration plan developed under Section 501.092, includi…

Sec. 496.001. ACQUISITION OF REAL PROPERTY. The board may acquire real property through purchase, subject to specific appropriative authority in the General Appropriations Act, or through the acceptance of a gift, grant, or donation for a facility. Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., …

Sec. 496.002. EMINENT DOMAIN. (a) The board has eminent domain authority to condemn and acquire land if necessary to eliminate security hazards, protect the life and property of citizens of this state, or improve the efficiency, management, or operations of the department. (b) Th…

Sec. 496.0021. SALE OF DEPARTMENT REAL PROPERTY. (a) The board may sell state-owned real property under the board's management and control at the real property's fair market value. The General Land Office shall negotiate and close a transaction under this section on behalf of the…

Sec. 496.003. LEASE OF REAL PROPERTY. (a) The board may lease state-owned real property under the board's management and control at the real property's fair market lease value. The initial period of a lease under this section may not exceed 20 years. The lease may contain terms a…

Sec. 496.0031. TRANSFER OF FACILITIES. (a) The department may transfer a correctional facility to another agency of the state, and the agency receiving the facility subsequently may transfer the facility back to the department. (b) A transfer under this section requires the agree…

Sec. 496.0032. AGRICULTURAL LEASE. The board under terms advantageous to the department may lease real property for use by the department for agricultural purposes and lease fixtures and appurtenances to the property. Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, Sec. 8.09, eff. Sept. 1…

Sec. 496.004. EASEMENTS. (a) The board may grant or lease permanent or temporary right-of-way easements on department land for: (1) public highways, roads and streets, and ditches; (2) electric lines and pipelines, including necessary wires, pipes, poles, and other equipment used…

Sec. 496.005. TAX EXEMPTION. (a) Property associated with a facility described by Subsection (b) is exempt from taxation during the time the property is used exclusively for the purposes of the department. (b) This section applies to: (1) land in Anderson County owned by the stat…

Sec. 496.006. ROAD MAINTENANCE. (a) The department and the Texas Department of Transportation may enter into and perform an agreement or contract for the maintenance of a road in or adjacent to a facility of the department. (b) An agreement or contract entered into under this sec…

Sec. 496.007. LOCATION OF NEW FACILITIES. In determining the location of a facility to be built, the department, in evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed location, shall consider whether the proposed location is: (1) close enough to a county with 100,000 or …

Sec. 496.051. PURCHASING PROCEDURES. (a) The department shall comply with any special purchasing procedures requiring competitive review under Subtitle D, Title 10. The department shall test the goods and services that it purchases in accordance with Section 2155.069 and may ente…

Sec. 496.0515. HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS. (a) The competitive bidding contract procedures established by Chapters 2155-2158, do not apply to a contract awarded by the department for: (1) testing a solid waste or other substance to determine whether the waste or other s…