TEXAS INDIGENT DEFENSE COMMISSION
TIDC Awards Grant to Fund Public Defender Program in Willacy County
On Aug. 21, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission (TIDC or Commission) awarded a two year grant for $313,308 to provide funding for the Willacy County Public Defender Office (WPDO).
Willacy County is currently facing a financial crisis due to the termination of a large Federal Bureau of Prisons contract with the Willacy County Correctional Facility. The funds awarded in August will permit the county to continue operating the program for the next two years and will cover half the cost of operating the program.
“This award was made possible thanks to the Legislature’s appropriation of new general revenue funding for indigent defense, as well as new authority provided to TIDC by the passage of S.B. 1057,” said Judge Sharon Keller, chair of the TIDC. That legislation addresses sustainability grants to support regional public defender programs. The Senate bill was authored by Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa and was sponsored in the House by Rep. Abel Herrero, a member of the TIDC.
“I’m pleased that the Commission has taken the initiative to implement S.B. 1057 in a way that will positively benefit counties that might otherwise struggle to provide effective indigent defense services,” stated Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., whose senate district includes Willacy County. “As chairman of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, I look forward to working with the Commission and other agencies to help Texas better address the needs of our counties.”
The WPDO was created in 2007 with grant funds from TIDC to represent poor people charged with crimes and has been instrumental in maintaining Willacy County’s compliance with the Fair Defense Act.
“Over the past eight years the public defender’s office has become an invaluable part of the local indigent defense delivery system,” shared Willacy County Judge Aurelio Guerra. “We are grateful to the TIDC for providing this funding because without it we would not be able to sustain the program.”
The WPDO is operated by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) under a contract with Willacy County. The funds will be used to join the existing regional public defender program currently administered by Bee County, which also contracts with TRLA to serve as public defender in three counties: Bee, Live Oak and McMullen.
“Willacy County has wholeheartedly worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in an effort to comply with the standards of indigent defense set by the state,” declared Chief Public Defender Abner Burnett. “This has consistently been done without compromising either the responsibilities of the public defender on behalf the client or that of the district attorney on behalf of the State of Texas.”
Grant to Fund New Comal County Juvenile Intervention Center
A $75,000 state grant will allow the Comal County Juvenile Probation Office to open a new intervention center aimed at preventing truancy in New Braunfels.
The New Braunfels Intervention Center will be the first of its kind in the city and will provide tutoring, homework assistance, cognitive and life-skill training, individual therapy and parental training for children ages 12-17 and their families.
“This is a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to keep kids in school and away from the influences that could lead them down the wrong path,” said Kris Johnson, chief juvenile probation officer for Comal County. “By helping them now, we hope to keep them from needing our help later.”
The center will be similar in scope to the Canyon Lake Evening Reporting Center, which provides many of the same services to juveniles who have been prosecuted or are awaiting prosecution. The New Braunfels facility will serve those who have been referred by their school because of attendance problems or who have been cited for status offenses – activities that are illegal because of the child’s age, such as drinking or smoking.
The two centers are part of a larger effort by Juvenile Probation to offer programs that aim to reduce juvenile detention and recidivism, including equine therapy and even fishing lessons.
“If we can change the course of a child’s life without locking them up, we prefer to do that,” Johnson said. “Even if a juvenile does require detention, the services and programs we offer help them make different choices when they are released.”
The grant to establish the NBIC comes from the Texas Criminal Justice Planning Fund, which is collected from court costs and fees paid by defendants; it will help pay for programming in the center, while the county will pay for two employees.
Comal County to Introduce Court Program Focused on Veterans
On Aug. 13, the Comal County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the creation of a new misdemeanor court program focused on helping struggling veterans receive the support they need.
The Veterans Treatment Court will bring together court, probation, mental health and veterans officials to assess the needs of veterans or active-duty service members who are charged with misdemeanor offenses.
The program will be led by Charles Stephens, judge for County Court-at-Law No. 2, and can function either as a pretrial diversion to avoid conviction, a condition of deferred adjudication, or as a condition of probation after conviction.
“These men and women have risked their lives on our behalf, and many of them return home with physical and mental disabilities that make it difficult for them to adjust,” Stephens said. “The goal is to rehabilitate them and help them become productive members of society rather than simply putting them in jail.”
The specifics of the program will vary based on the needs of each defendant, Stephens said. However, each veteran will receive a veteran mentor to help shepherd them through the program. Those interested in becoming mentors are encouraged to email Stephens’ office, evansa@co.comal.tx.us, for more information.
The veterans program joins similar specialized courts in Comal County focused on offenders addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, and second-time DWI offenders.
TEXAS COMMISSION ON JAIL STANDARDS
Report From the 84th Legislature
Upon the conclusion of the 84th Legislature, new laws were enacted that will require changes to Minimum Jail Standards. The formal adoption of the amended Minimum Jail Standards will progress through normal rulemaking procedures as outlined in Title 37 Part 9 Chapter 255 of the Texas Administrative Code. Rulemaking requires the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (Commission) to consider public comments on the proposed rules; therefore, proposed rules are subject to change at the November Commission meeting. Below please find information that outlines the enacted legislation, changes to Minimum Jail Standards, and required action of Texas counties.
H.B. 549 by Johnson and H.B. 634 by Metcalf
Both H.B. 549 and H.B. 634 will require changes to the visitation standards, and jails will need to update their visitation operational plan. H.B. 549 mandates that county jails provide two in-person, non-contact visitation periods of 20 minutes in duration. Certain jails may be exempt from the in-person requirement; however, that exemption will be determined by the Commission, as outlined by the statute.
H.B. 634 will require jails to provide access by a legal guardian to a jail inmate including placement of the legal guardian on an inmate’s visitation list, at the guardian’s request. Jails may submit their updated visitation plans to Luz Lozano at any time but no later than Dec. 15, 2015. Please do not submit your visitation operational plans until after the November Commission meeting.
H.B. 875 by Farias
Justice-involved veterans currently make up about 10 percent of jail populations. While current intake screening forms provide for a self-report mechanism, not all veterans will self-identify while incarcerated. To identify justice-involved veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) created the Veterans Reentry Search Service (VRSS) specifically for criminal justice agencies.
H.B. 875 mandates the use of the VRSS by all facilities under the Commission’s purview. The VRSS is a web-based application that will allow jails to upload their inmate roster in a Comma Separated Value (CSV) format. How often jails should conduct uploads is dependent on each county’s inmate population and is at the discretion of each county. The VRSS will access the Department of Defense database and will send information back to counties on inmates that have military service. At the same time the VRSS delivers information to counties, the VRSS will also notify the VA’s Justice Outreach Officer of a justice-involved veteran.
H.B. 875 also requires counties to assist identified veterans with applying for federal benefits. The author of the legislation has approved for counties to simply provide a referral card to the identified veteran. The Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) is printing the card (at TVC cost), and the Commission will distribute the cards to counties (at Commission cost).
Once a veteran is identified, either through self-reporting or the VRSS, county officials will simply give the veteran the referral card. Because another state agency is providing the referral cards, please limit issuance to those individuals who self-identify as a veteran or a VRSS–verified veteran. The decision to send in the card is solely left to the veteran and will not require further involvement of the jail. A jail may use commissary funds to place a stamp on the referral card, but it is not required.
H.B. 1140 by Israel
Legislation enacted in 2009 required the Commission on Jail Standards to establish health care standards for pregnant inmates. However, interested parties continue to allege mistreatment within county jails and assert that state officials lack adequate information to evaluate such care across Texas. H.B. 1140 seeks to provide the state with reliable information to assess the status of pregnant inmate care and related procedures in Texas.
To capture the current status of pregnant inmate care, H.B. 1140 requires the collection of data for a one-time report, including the number of miscarriages. H.B. 1140 reporting will be conducted in two phases. The first phase is the reporting of miscarriage information. The data collection for miscarriages begins on Sept. 1, 2015, and will conclude on Aug. 31, 2016. Please report miscarriage data on a monthly basis by the 5th of each month. The Commission has created a reporting form for the reporting of miscarriages.
While H.B. 1140 mandates only reporting the number of miscarriages, the Commission is giving the counties the option to report more-detailed information. The Commission urges counties to provide the optional information as it will give policymakers a better understanding of the entire issue when they reconvene in 2017 for the 85th Legislature. The second phase of H.B. 1140 also requires the reporting of certain policies and procedures of pregnant inmate care that will be due by Aug. 31, 2016. The Commission is required to create a reporting form and will issue the reporting form to counties no later than April 2016.
Key Dates
- 1, 2015 – Counties shall begin collecting the number of miscarriages.
- 1, 2015-Oct. 30, 2015 – Counties should investigate ability of Jail Management Software (JMS) or county IT to convert/export inmate roster to CVS format and upload to the VRSS.
- 30, 2015 – Deadline for counties to establish a VRSS account with the VA. Web address is https://vrss.va.gov/. Counties should begin writing policies and procedures for uploading, receiving and documenting VRSS data. Counties are not required to submit VRSS polices to the Commission.
- 5, 2015 – 1st monthly report of miscarriage information due to the Commission.
- 2, 2015 – Counties should be on the VRSS and actively uploading data at least once a day. Counties with major issues with VRSS should report that information to their jail inspector
- TBD Distribution of veteran referral cards to counties to be determined. Once counties receive their allotment of referral cards, counties should begin documentation of VRSS verification and distribution to veterans. Because another state agency is providing the referral cards, please limit issuance to those individuals who self-identify as a veteran or a VRSS–verified veteran.
- 15, 2015 – Deadline for initial submission of revised visitation plans. Final Commission approval for visitation plans will occur throughout the first half of 2016. Prior to submission, please review for grammar/spelling errors and ensure operational plans comply with all elements of standards. Please know/remember that the Commission has only one staff member to review and approve all operational plans for all 244 facilities.
- April 2016 – Commission will distribute reporting form for H.B. 1140 policies and procedures for the care of pregnant inmates.
- 31, 2016 – End of collection period for miscarriage information.
- 1, 2016 – H.B. 1140 Pregnant Inmate Policies and Procedures reporting form due from counties.
Sept. 5, 2016 – last report of miscarriage information. Aug. 2016 is the final miscarriage report, and no other miscarriage reporting is required.