Judges: GREG ABBOTT, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 10/22/2003
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
The Honorable William C. Bennett, Jr. Criminal District Attorney Madison County, Texas 101 West Main, Room 207 Madisonville, Texas 77864
Re: Whether a county jail inmate may be employed privately by county jail personnel (RQ-0053-GA)
Dear Mr. Bennett:
You ask whether an inmate sentenced to serve time in county jail, or sentenced to the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice ("TDCJ") but "bench warranted" to serve time in county jail, may be employed privately by county jail personnel.1
Your question concerns the employment of an inmate sentenced to the Institutional Division of TDCJ by a Madison County district court. The inmate was transferred back to the Madison County jail to serve his sentence as a trusty. The inmate volunteered to launder jailers' uniforms in his spare time. The jailers pay the inmate a gratuity for this service, depositing between one and five dollars in the inmate's commissary account. The inmate launders the jailers' uniforms using the county's washing machine, dryer, detergent, water, and iron.
At the request of the county sheriff and county auditor, you ask whether an inmate sentenced to serve time in county jail, or sentenced to TDCJ confinement but bench warranted to serve time in county jail as a trusty, may render compensated services to jailers. Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1-2. In particular, you inquire whether chapter 497 of the Texas Government Code, concerning Texas Correctional Industries ("TCI"), authorizes this practice. Id. You acknowledge that the inmate's informal laundry work would not comport with any of the formal requirements of a TCI program. Nevertheless, you suggest that the inmate's informal employment will provide the inmate with suitable vocational training and rehabilitation, develop his work ethic, and provide for his maintenance, thereby serving the stated purposes of a TCI program. See Tex. Gov't Code Ann. §
Chapter 497 provides the statutory authority to use TDCJ inmate labor in TCI and private sector programs. Id. §§ 497.001-.113 (Vernon 1998 Supp. 2003).2 TDCJ operates TCI programs at suitable correctional facilities. Id. § 497.002(b) (Vernon Supp. 2003). Private sector programs must operate under the rules promulgated by the Private Sector Prison Oversight Authority, consistent with the standards of the federal prison enhancement certification program of
Like chapter 497, which governs TDCJ labor, the statutes that authorize work programs for jail inmates do not sanction informal inmate employment. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, persons sentenced to jail are expected to work in a county jail industries program or do manual labor according to the terms of article 43.10. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art.
Very truly yours,
GREG ABBOTT Attorney General of Texas
BARRY R. McBEE First Assistant Attorney General
DON R. WILLETT Deputy Attorney General — General Counsel
NANCY S. FULLER Chair, Opinion Committee
William A. Hill Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee