The Comprehensive/Sunset Recommendations Bill
Every dozen years the Texas Legislature comprehensively analyzes all government agencies through a process called a “Sunset” review, and this was the year Texas’ prison and community supervision systems came under special scrutiny.
Provisions in the “Sunset” bill for TDCJ will hold the Board of Pardons and Paroles more accountable and force them to explain decisions not to follow their own guidelines when refusing to release parole-eligible prisoners. Dr. Tony Fabelo, Texas’ leading criminal justice expert, has said a decline in parole rates (unsupported on safety grounds) is the main cause of over-incarceration in Texas. In addition, the Sunset bill gives local judges greater flexibility in assessing community supervision requirements to accommodate individual needs and specific situations instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
1. SB 909 by Whitmire. Relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee and to the functions of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Analysis: Endorses the recommendations of the Sunset Commission in regards to the functions of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee, and the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Note: This legislation must include provisions on re-entry. The following are two suggested provisions: (a) the development of a validated intake process used during individuals’ admission into correctional facilities (an assessment of each individual’s risk, needs, strengths), and (b) the development of a re-integration plan for each individual exiting from a correctional facility (plan would be based on the intake assessment and outline the programming that TDCJ will provide each offender while incarcerated to ensure that his/her integration into the free world is safe and successful).
Treatment Diversion Fact Sheet