37 Tex. Admin. Code § 163.21 - Administration
(a) Appointment and Responsibilities of a
Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD) Director.
(1) When there is a vacancy in the position
of CSCD director, the judge or judges as described by Texas Government Code
§
76.002 shall:
(A) publicly advertise the
position;
(B) post a job
description, the qualifications for the position, and the application
requirements;
(C) conduct a
competitive hiring process and adhere to state and federal equal employment
opportunity laws; and
(D) review
applicants who meet the posted qualifications and comply with the application
requirements.
(2) The
judge or judges as described by Texas Government Code §
76.002 shall appoint
a CSCD director who shall meet, at a minimum, the eligibility requirements for
community supervision officers (CSOs) established under Texas Government Code
§
76.005 and 37 Texas
Administrative Code §
163.33.
(3) The CSCD director shall employ a
sufficient number of officers and other employees to conduct presentence
investigations, supervise and rehabilitate defendants placed on community
supervision, enforce the conditions of community supervision, and staff
community corrections facilities. A person employed under this subsection is an
employee of the CSCD and not of the judges or judicial districts.
(4) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Community Justice Assistance Division (TDCJ CJAD) director shall be notified by
the administrative judge of the appointment of a CSCD director.
(5) The CSCD director shall perform or
delegate the responsibility for performing the following duties:
(A) overseeing the daily operations of the
CSCD;
(B) preparing, annually or
biennially, a budget for the CSCD;
(C) negotiating and entering into contracts
on behalf of the CSCD;
(D)
establishing policies and procedures for all functions of the CSCD;
(E) developing personnel policies and
procedures, including disciplinary proceedings; and
(F) establishing procedures and practices
through which the CSCD will address an employment-related grievance.
(b) Administrative
Manual. The CSCD director shall develop, update, revise, and maintain an
administrative manual that defines the CSCD's general purposes and functional
objectives. The CSCD director shall ensure the administrative manual is
available to all staff members and provide the TDCJ CJAD director with a copy
of the CSCD's administrative manual for review upon request. The manual shall
incorporate all of the written policies and procedures, which shall provide a
detailed description of the procedures followed in performing the routine tasks
of the CSCD. At a minimum, the policies and procedures in the manual shall
include:
(1) Medical.
(A) medical and psychological records
management;
(B) contagious disease
policy, including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS); and
(C)
tuberculosis and other communicable diseases.
(2) Supervision.
(A) supervision description;
(B) assessment and remediation of literacy
skills for offenders;
(C) arrest
and firearms policy and procedures; and
(D) presentence investigation and reporting
policy and procedures.
(3) Standards.
(A) code of ethics;
(B) intrastate and interstate compact
policies and procedures;
(C) Texas
Risk Assessment System and case classification;
(D) supervision of offenders and progressive
sanctions model;
(E) internal case
file audit procedures; and
(F)
violation of community supervision order procedures.
(c) Ethics. The CSCD director
shall provide each CSCD employee with a copy of the Code of Ethics adopted by
the TDCJ CJAD and a copy of the procedure developed by the CSCD director that
shall be used to review and investigate an alleged ethics violation. All
employees of the CSCD shall comply with the Code of Ethics developed by the
TDCJ CJAD.
(d) Internal Audits.
Each CSCD shall have a designated procedure to monitor the skill levels and
training needs of individual staff members and shall develop a plan to meet
those needs. Internal audits of direct supervision cases shall be conducted to
check for standards compliance, use of case classification, and supervision
planning.
(e) Records. The CSCD
director shall ensure that program records and statistical data consistent with
the requirements of the law and TDCJ CJAD standards are maintained and provided
to TDCJ CJAD as required.
(f)
Budget. The CSCD director shall prepare and operate from a budget in a manner
consistent with good accounting practices and approved by the judge(s) of their
judicial district. The budget shall be submitted to the TDCJ CJAD director in a
format as required and within the provisions as outlined in 37 Texas
Administrative Code §
163.43.
(g) Multi-CSCD Districts.
(1) Judicial districts composed of more than
one county may request from the TDCJ CJAD director for authorization to
establish more than one CSCD within the judicial district. The proposal
submitted by the judge(s) shall explain how the creation of more than one CSCD
will promote:
(A) administrative
convenience;
(B) economy;
or
(C) improved community
supervision and corrections services and other reasons, if any.
(2) The proposal shall indicate
the financial impact and the approval of the judges in the judicial district or
districts hearing criminal cases affected by the change.
(h) Complaint Notice. Each CSCD shall notify
the public, offenders, and victims of crimes, that they can direct written
complaints to the CSCD and TDCJ CJAD. The notification shall be in the form of
a sign posted in a conspicuous public area in each CSCD office, or in the form
of written brochures which are to be displayed in a conspicuous public area in
each CSCD office. Signs and brochures shall be written in both English and
Spanish, list the address of the CSCD director and TDCJ CJAD address, and
inform persons that attempts should first be made to resolve complaints
locally; unsatisfactory results may be reported to the TDCJ CJAD.
(i) Compliance with Statutes and TDCJ CJAD
Policy Statements. Each CSCD director shall ensure that all CSCD operations
comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws and the TDCJ CJAD
policy statements and official manuals pertaining to the CSCDs.
(j) Citizen Involvement and Volunteers. If
volunteers are used, the CSCD director shall ensure that suitable orientation
and supervision is provided in the functions they will be expected to perform.
The CSCDs are encouraged to establish and maintain opportunities for effective
volunteer participation in CSCD operations. If volunteers are used, the CSCD
director shall:
(1) ensure that written
policy, procedure, and practice exists for guiding the selection and
utilization of citizen involvement; and
(2) require volunteers to acknowledge and
comply with all CSCD rules governing the confidentiality of
information.
(k) Victim
Services. The criminal justice system recognizes many stakeholders are affected
by crime and wishes to acknowledge crime victims' interests and rights to be
informed, heard, and protected by the system. With that goal in mind, standards
are incorporated to facilitate the participation of crime victims within
community supervision.
(1) Training. The CSCD
victim services coordinators shall obtain no less than eight documented hours
of professional, skill-based training within the first biennium of appointment
to the position of victim service coordinator. Documentation of training hours
shall be maintained at the CSCD and available on request. Training shall be
specific to community supervision and should include:
(A) victims' rights;
(B) victim sensitivity;
(C) confidentiality issues; and
(D) crime victim compensation.
(2) Policy and Procedures. Each
CSCD shall adopt written policies and procedures regarding victim notification
of offenders placed on community supervision and offender information that may
be released to victims.
(A) Notifying the
victim of the offender's crime, or if the victim has a guardian or is deceased,
notifying the guardian of the victim or close relative of the deceased victim,
when the offender is released and placed on community supervision. Notification
shall include the information specified in Texas Government Code §
76.016, which
includes:
(i) notice the offender is being
placed on community supervision;
(ii) the conditions of community supervision
imposed by the court; and
(iii) the
date, time, and location of any hearing or proceeding at which the conditions
of the offender's community supervision may be modified or the offender's
placement on community supervision may be revoked or terminated.
(B) Offender information that is
public may be released to victims. Such information includes:
(i) court ordered community supervision
identifying the CSCD with jurisdiction;
(ii) a written copy of the conditions of
supervision;
(iii) the name of the
supervising officer;
(iv) victim
service coordinator contact information;
(v) motion to revoke supervision being filed
and the results of the motion;
(vi)
information regarding the transfer of an offender to another jurisdiction and
contact information; and
(vii)
information that the offender has been placed in residential confinement and
released from confinement unless such confinement is in a substance abuse
treatment facility.
(3) Other information that may be released
includes information that the victim would have knowledge of, such as:
(A) uncollected or unpaid restitution;
and
(B) sanctions for violating the
terms and conditions of supervision.
Notes
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