Texas To Reform Sex Offender Civil Commitment Program

---

7-19-15 Texas:

On June 17, 2015, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 746, to reform the state’s civil commitment program for sexually violent offenders. The legislation changes the name of the state entity that is responsible for providing supervision and treatment to civilly committed sex offenders and makes multiple changes to improve how the program functions. The Office of Violent Sex Offender Management (OVSOM) will be renamed the Texas Civil Commitment Office (TCCO). The TCCO is required to develop a tiered supervision and treatment program for civilly committed persons that provides a seamless transition from total confinement to less restrictive housing and eventual release from civil commitment.

Texas is one of more than 20 states that operates a civil commitment program for convicted sexually violent or predatory sex offenders who have served their sentences, but whom the state deems too dangerous to release into the community without supervision. Civilly committed sex offenders in the TCCO program (formerly OVSOM) have been released from prison but have been determined to have a behavioral abnormality which makes it likely that the person would engage in repeated, predatory acts of sexual violence.

Predator agency reforms headed to Abbott

---

5-21-15 Texas:

AUSTIN — A bill to reform a troubled state program designed to keep the Texas' most dangerous sex predators under supervision after they leave prison was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday to be signed into law.

Without debate, the Senate concurred with House amendments made to Senate Bill 746 designed to correct myriad legal issues and administrative programs in the state's civil commitment program for repeat sex offenders.

The bill would strip a Montgomery County court of sole jurisdiction over the supervision of the more than 350 men in the program, as well as the decisions to place new offenders into it. The judge of that court, Michael Seiler, was reprimanded by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct recently for perceived bias against defendants in the program and improper conduct toward their attorneys and witnesses.

House OKs sex offender reform bill on final reading

---

5-18-15 Texas:

AUSTIN -- Sweeping reforms to the state's program to supervise sex predators after their release from prison were approved in final form Monday by the Texas House, a year after revelations of mismanagement and legal issues triggered multiple investigations and calls for an overhaul.

The measure now goes back to the Senate for approval of a few wording changes by the House. But the author of Senate Bill 746 said he expects the Senate to agree, meaning the legislation will go to Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law. Approval came on a vote of 137-3 after little debate.

The bill would overhaul the state's civil-commitment program from top to bottom, following revelations that no one has graduated the what is supposed to be an outpatient treatment program and been released in the program's 16-year history.

Under the bill, a Conroe judge would be stripped of his sole authority to decide who gets into and out of the program; that job will be passed to judges in counties that convicted the offenders of sex crimes in the first place.

Civil commitment bill targets agency dysfunction; clock ticking on housing crisis

---

5-16-15 Texas:

From Grits for Breakfast

The Texas House yesterday passed Sen. John Whitmire's and Rep. Sylvester Turner's bill overhauling the sex-offender civil commitment program, reported the Houston Chronicle's Mike Ward and Anita Hassan. (See an analysis of the bill [a must read] from attorney Nancy Bunin.)

In a quote that must be music to the ears of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, Whitmire declared that, "In all my years up here, I don't think I have ever seen a program as dysfunctional and legally challenged as this program - and that's saying a lot." In recent years, such comments have often been aimed at TJJD, or its predecessor agency TYC. Finally, they've elevated from the bottom rung of agency dysfunction! Or maybe the floor just dropped.

Regardless, while addressing issues of agency management and eliminating the jurisdiction of a biased Montgomery County judge who oversees the program, the reforms do not address the most immediate problem with Texas' civil commitment program: Where if anywhere can the state house them in the community without being pushed out by NIMBY backlash? Nobody knows, and the clock is ticking to find a solution. The Chron article concluded:

The bill, however, does not address a critical housing shortage facing the agency.

The roughly 175 men currently active in the program are living in halfway houses, jails and boarding houses under round-the-clock supervision.

The private halfway houses, however, have demanded the men be removed by August. The agency has no room to house the men or those who are expected to come out of prison throughout the year. Because of that, officials had asked for the changes to take effect immediately so they can move ahead with plans to buy or lease a new facility where the offenders outside prison can be confined while they undergo treatment.

---

Sex offender agency reform bill passes House

---

5-14-2015 Texas:

AUSTIN — Sweeping reforms to Texas' troubled program to supervise sex predators after they leave prison were tentatively approved by the Texas House Thursday.

The House changed Senate Bill 746 -- designed to help state officials as they scramble to straighten out a civil-commitment program that has been in legal legal and administrative disarray for years -- to make the changes effective immediately and to require that local officials are notified before the predators are released under strict supervision into neighborhoods.

The measure, slated for final approval by the House possibly later in the day, stems from a series of disclosures by the Houston Chronicle in the past year about administrative miscues and questionable legal and court actions in the program.

Under the bill, a Montgomery County state court would be stripped of its sole jurisdiction over the supervision and decisions concerning the more than 300 offenders in the program. Of those, about 175 are living in halfway houses, jails and boarding houses under supervision, and the rest are in prison.

Judge over violent sex offender cases rebuked

---

5-1-15 Texas:

A state ethics agency has rebuked a Montgomery County judge for mistreating lawyers and making public statements that raised questions about his ability to impartially preside over cases involving sexually violent predators.

State District Judge Michael Seiler, whose actions have prompted legislative action this session, also was ordered to receive four hours of education from a “mentor judge” on how to avoid bias and treat those in his courtroom appropriately.

The public reprimand given to Seiler was the harshest sanction — short of beginning a process leading to suspension or removal — available to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates complaints against judges at all levels.

A lawyer for Seiler said Friday that he will appeal the rebuke as unfair and unwarranted.

Seiler has sole jurisdiction over civil commitments, a process that identifies inmates who pose a continuing threat to commit violent sex crimes and places them in a program that continues their incarceration or places them in approved facilities, provides intensive sex-offender treatment and fits them with an ankle bracelet for constant GPS monitoring.

Texas sex offender program housing crisis worsens

---

4-27-15 Texas:

Housing problem leads state to new 'home plans'

AUSTIN — Faced with a worsening housing shortage and no prospect of a quick solution, officials quietly have started putting together "home plans" for most of the state's 185 sex offenders deemed too dangerous to live unsupervised in society.

So critical is the housing problem, officials said, that a two-time child molester freed from prison on Friday had to be temporarily placed in an already-full Houston halfway house after nearly 100 nursing homes refused to take the man, who is confined to a wheelchair and is developmentally disabled. State officials said he would not return home because several of his immediate family members also are sex offenders.

"We have no places to put the ones that are coming out of prison, and we have no place for the 185 who are in halfway houses and have to be out in August," said Marsha McLane, executive director of the Office of Violent Sex Offender Management that oversees Texas' civil-commitment program for repeat sex predators. "I would say we have a crisis on our hands."

Should the agency eventually implement the "home plans," the men would be sent back to live in their communities under supervision, required to wear ankle monitors to track their movements 24 hours a day. Caseworkers would check in on them each day.

Senate OKs sex offender program reforms

---

4-23-15 Texas:

AUSTIN — A Conroe court would be stripped of its exclusive jurisdiction over civil commitment cases for repeat sex offenders as part of a sweeping reform bill approved by the Texas Senate Thursday.

With no discussion, senators voted 27-3 to approved Senate Bill 746, the passage of which passage had been slowed in recent weeks by an initial implementation cost of $18 million, nearly triple the cost of the current program.

State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, the architect of the reform plan, said the state has no choice but to overhaul the program, which has been wracked by disclosures in the past year of lax supervision, poor management, legal mistakes, allegations of judicial bias, a lack of treatment and secrecy that Whitmire and other legislative leaders said imperils the continued operation of the program.

The program continues state supervision of sex offenders who officials have deemed a continuing threat to public safety, even after they complete their prison sentences. Offenders placed into the civil commitment program are kept under supervision in an outpatient treatment program and are required to wear ankle monitors to track their every move.

Sex-predator program reforms push ahead

---

4-14-15 Texas:

AUSTIN - Despite lingering concerns over courts and costs, a Senate committee on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation to overhaul the controversial civil commitment program for Texas' most violent sex predators and the troubled state agency that oversees it. ..Source..sub/req.. by Mike Ward and Anita Hassan

---

Business issues raised in opposition to Texas sex offender facility

---

4-10-15 Texas:

Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, is calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to stop the conversion of the empty Al Price State Juvenile Facility east of Houston into a halfway house that might deter business from moving to Beaumont and Jefferson County.

While Senate District 4 is anchored in Montgomery County, the district also picks up a number of counties to the east that are directly involved in the state’s new energy boom. A state program to handle violent offenders has run out of space and expressed an interest in the Beaumont facility.

The conversion of the closed juvenile facility to house violent sex offenders would be bad for the economy, Creighton said in a letter released Friday by his office.

"This is not a classic 'not in my backyard' scenario," Creighton said. "Job recruitment in Southeast Texas is key in keeping our state the 11th largest economy in the world. Maintaining a healthy recruitment effort cannot be achieved if the Al Price facility is converted."

Reform of sex offender program hits a snag

---

4-8-15 Texas:

Price of solving the 'crisis' estimated to befar more than House or Senate proposed

AUSTIN - A Senate plan for sweeping reforms in the state's troubled civil-commitment program for sexual predators hit a snag Tuesday when lawmakers learned the proposed changes could be more expensive than originally thought. ..Source..sub.req.. by Mike Ward and Anita Hassan

---

Agency chief will tell county about sex offender treatment center

---

3-31-15 Texas:

An obscure state agency originally asked the Jefferson County judge about using the former Al Price unit for a new location for "outpatient" sex offenders and its executive director plans to speak at a workshop session at 11 a.m. Monday at Commissioners Court.

Marsha McLane, director of the Office of Violent Sex Offender Management, a stand-alone agency created in the late 1990s, said she had searched perhaps 130 locations to replace two existing residences where 184 sex offenders live.

"It was me," McLane said. "I'm the one who thought of it."

Fred Jackson, assistant to County Judge Jeff Branick, confirmed McLane is on the Monday agenda for a workshop session.

State prisons and other correctional units with lesser security also are home for convicted sex offenders, McLane said.

Proposal to house sex offenders in Jefferson Co. nixed

---

3-31-15 Texas:

A former state lockup in Mid-County for wayward kids won't become a kind of "Super Max" halfway house for sex offenders whose sentences have ended but whose prospects for re-offending are high enough to require more treatment, Jefferson County commissioners and state representatives said Monday.

Commissioners Court on Monday yanked the agenda item first published last Thursday that said the court would consider "re-conveying" the Al Price unit to the state.

State Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, said he spoke with an assistant in Gov. Greg Abbott's office on Friday to learn more about the state's plans to drop sex offenders from around the state at the former Texas Youth Commission facility on U.S. 69.

The site, near the Jack Brooks Regional Airport, is in Deshotel's District 22.

"I don't know if the state was clear with the county on what it wanted it for," Deshotel said. "I don't see it happening, now that we know about it."

UPDATE: Jefferson County judge postpones vote on Al Price unit's future after uproar about sex offenders

---

3-28-15 Texas:

12News has obtained exclusive new details about the proposed plans for the former Al Price Juvenile Correctional Facility.

Following Angel San Juan's in-depth reporting on Thursday night, 12News HD has since learned that the facility on Highway 69 between Beaumont and Port Arthur is creating such a commotion among local lawmakers because of the type of inmates who could be housed at the facility.
As 12News HD previously reported, the state wants to retake control of the facility in order to house inmates.

State Representative Dade Phelan told 12News HD Friday that certain sex offenders could soon be housed at the complex -- offenders who have already served their sentenced, but remain in custody because judges ruled them "too dangerous" to be released from state custody.

The Al Price unit has sat vacant for almost four years. Fifteen buildings on 50 acres that are costing Jefferson County taxpayers almost $100,000 a year.

Analyzing legislation to reform Texas sex-offender civil commitment program

---

3-5-15 Texas:

From Grits for Breakfast

When Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire filed SB 746 revamping Texas' civil commitment program aimed at sexually violent predators, Grits tried in vain to grok the ins and outs of all the changes and their import from the text and quickly found it made my head hurt. So I emailed Nancy Bunin - an attorney in Houston who works on these cases who was involved with advocating for reforming the program - asking her to explain what the bill did, how it addressed the problems reported extensively in the Houston Chronicle and elsewhere, and what remains to be done. She graciously replied today with a detailed and candid response. I'm immensely grateful for her taking the time. Find her analysis below the jump.

by Nancy Bunin:

Texas has a statute to civilly commit an arbitrary and select few of the persons convicted of more than one sexual violent offense. This commitment process is initiated after the person has completed discharged his prison sentence or has been released on parole.[1]

The process is fundamentally unfair. No one who is tried for civil commitment is ever found not to qualify for commitment and no one has ever been released from civil commitment[2]. According to the agency’s own records[3], more than one half of the men who have been civilly committed have been sent back to prison for violating rules that are created, enforced, and interpreted by the same agency in charge of “treating” the civilly commitment patients.

Funds for sex predator cases clear hurdle

---

2-20-2013 Texas:

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Lawmakers have approved a measure that would pay for more expert testimony to help keep violent sex offenders off the streets.

The proposal gained support from a House Appropriations Sub-committee on Monday and would provide $128,000 to hire a second expert witness in complex cases.

Lawmakers were told that each year the Judiciary Section of the Comptroller's Department seeks the civil commitment of approximately 50 sex offenders after their prison sentences expire. The funds would provide a second witness in about 17 of those cases.

Budget analysts said for example that both a psychologist and a psychiatrist could be called to testify. The subcommittee chairman, Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner turned down a raft of other proposals to increase funds for staffing at criminal justice agencies. ..Source.. by MICHAEL BRICK

---

Placesetter Informational Post

---

The purpose of this is: 1) Either you are seeing this post because you have already reviewed all Discussions about Proposed Laws in this state; OR, 2) There have not been any Discussions about changes to civil commitment laws in this state. In other words, we have no more articles discussing proposed laws. If you know of one please let us know. For now have a great day and a better tomorrow. eAdvocate PS: This feature was started in April of 2013, so any proposed laws before that date are not recorded in this blog.. .

---