Bill Text: TX HB4117 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Engrossed

---

Bill Title: Relating to the provision of telemental health services to prisoners confined in county jails, including the creation of the county jail telemental health fund, and to certain rules and procedures relating to the safety of those prisoners.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-05-18 - Posting rule suspended [HB4117 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB4117-Engrossed.html

---

85R20647 JRR-F
By: Coleman, Springer H.B. No. 4117

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the provision of telemental health services to
prisoners confined in county jails, including the creation of the
county jail telemental health fund, and to certain rules and
procedures relating to the safety of those prisoners.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 511.009(a), Government Code, as amended
by Chapters 281 (H.B. 875), 648 (H.B. 549), and 688 (H.B. 634), Acts
of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is reenacted and
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission shall:
(1) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum standards for the construction, equipment,
maintenance, and operation of county jails;
(2) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum standards for the custody, care, and treatment
of prisoners;
(3) adopt reasonable rules establishing minimum
standards for the number of jail supervisory personnel and for
programs and services to meet the needs of prisoners;
(4) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum requirements for programs of rehabilitation,
education, and recreation in county jails;
(5) revise, amend, or change rules and procedures if
necessary;
(6) provide to local government officials
consultation on and technical assistance for county jails;
(7) review and comment on plans for the construction
and major modification or renovation of county jails;
(8) require that the sheriff and commissioners of each
county submit to the commission, on a form prescribed by the
commission, an annual report on the conditions in each county jail
within their jurisdiction, including all information necessary to
determine compliance with state law, commission orders, and the
rules adopted under this chapter;
(9) review the reports submitted under Subdivision (8)
and require commission employees to inspect county jails regularly
to ensure compliance with state law, commission orders, and rules
and procedures adopted under this chapter;
(10) adopt a classification system to assist sheriffs
and judges in determining which defendants are low-risk and
consequently suitable participants in a county jail work release
program under Article 42.034, Code of Criminal Procedure;
(11) adopt rules relating to requirements for
segregation of classes of inmates and to capacities for county
jails;
(12) require that the chief jailer of each municipal
lockup submit to the commission, on a form prescribed by the
commission, an annual report of persons under 17 years of age
securely detained in the lockup, including all information
necessary to determine compliance with state law concerning secure
confinement of children in municipal lockups;
(13) at least annually determine whether each county
jail is in compliance with the rules and procedures adopted under
this chapter;
(14) require that the sheriff and commissioners court
of each county submit to the commission, on a form prescribed by the
commission, an annual report of persons under 17 years of age
securely detained in the county jail, including all information
necessary to determine compliance with state law concerning secure
confinement of children in county jails;
(15) schedule announced and unannounced inspections
of jails under the commission's jurisdiction using the risk
assessment plan established under Section 511.0085 to guide the
inspections process;
(16) adopt a policy for gathering and distributing to
jails under the commission's jurisdiction information regarding:
(A) common issues concerning jail
administration;
(B) examples of successful strategies for
maintaining compliance with state law and the rules, standards, and
procedures of the commission; and
(C) solutions to operational challenges for
jails;
(17) report to the Texas Correctional Office on
Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments on a jail's compliance
with Article 16.22, Code of Criminal Procedure;
(18) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum requirements for jails to:
(A) determine if a prisoner is pregnant; and
(B) ensure that the jail's health services plan
addresses medical and mental health care, including nutritional
requirements, and any special housing or work assignment needs for
persons who are confined in the jail and are known or determined to
be pregnant;
(19) provide guidelines to sheriffs regarding
contracts between a sheriff and another entity for the provision of
food services to or the operation of a commissary in a jail under
the commission's jurisdiction, including specific provisions
regarding conflicts of interest and avoiding the appearance of
impropriety; [and]
(20) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum standards for prisoner visitation that
provide each prisoner at a county jail with a minimum of two
in-person, noncontact visitation periods per week of at least 20
minutes duration each;
(21) [(20)] require the sheriff of each county to:
(A) investigate and verify the veteran status of
each prisoner by using data made available from the Veterans
Reentry Search Service (VRSS) operated by the United States
Department of Veterans Affairs or a similar service; and
(B) use the data described by Paragraph (A) to
assist prisoners who are veterans in applying for federal benefits
or compensation for which the prisoners may be eligible under a
program administered by the United States Department of Veterans
Affairs;
(22) [(20)] adopt reasonable rules and procedures
regarding visitation of a prisoner at a county jail by a guardian,
as defined by Section 1002.012, Estates Code, that:
(A) allow visitation by a guardian to the same
extent as the prisoner's next of kin, including placing the
guardian on the prisoner's approved visitors list on the guardian's
request and providing the guardian access to the prisoner during a
facility's standard visitation hours if the prisoner is otherwise
eligible to receive visitors; and
(B) require the guardian to provide the sheriff
with letters of guardianship issued as provided by Section
1106.001, Estates Code, before being allowed to visit the prisoner;
and
(23) adopt reasonable rules and procedures to ensure
the safety of prisoners, including rules and procedures that
require a county jail to have the ability to access a mental health
professional on site or through a telemental health service 24
hours a day.
SECTION 2. Chapter 511, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 511.019 to read as follows:
Sec. 511.019. COUNTY JAIL TELEMENTAL HEALTH FUND. (a) The
county jail telemental health fund is a dedicated account in the
general revenue fund.
(b) The county jail telemental health fund consists of:
(1) appropriations of money to the fund by the
legislature; and
(2) gifts, grants, including grants from the federal
government, and other donations received for the fund.
(c) Money in the fund may be appropriated only to the
commission to pay for programs, training, and capital improvements
necessary to implement or improve telemental health services in a
county jail with a certified capacity of 96 prisoners or fewer.
(d) The commission by rule may establish a grant program to
provide grants to counties to fund programs, training, or capital
improvements in a county jail described by Subsection (c).
SECTION 3. Not later than September 1, 2018, the Commission
on Jail Standards shall adopt the rules and procedures required by
Section 511.009(a)(23), Government Code, as added by this Act. On
and after September 1, 2020, a county jail shall comply with any
rule or procedure adopted by the Commission on Jail Standards under
that section.
SECTION 4. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.