Section 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) Human Resources. (A) Recruitment procedures;(B) Promotion requirements and procedures;(C) Equal employment opportunity affirmative action provisions; (D) Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act; (E) Provisions of the FairLabor Standards Act; (F) Provisions of the FamilyMedical Leave Act; (G) Sexual harassment policy; (H) Confidentiality of information; (I) Organizational plan or chart;(L) Holidays and work schedules;(M) Explanation of amount and limitations of leaves;(O) Employee performance appraisals;(P) Disciplinary procedures;(Q) Grievance procedures;(R) Probationary employment periods;(U) Pre-employment criminal record checks;(W) Political participation;(X) Travel and mileage reimbursement policy; and(Y)Immigration Reform and Control Act.(2) 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.(3) 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.(4) Standards. (B) Training and staff development;(C) Job descriptions, qualifications, and responsibilities;(D) Insurance and honesty bonds;(E) Intrastate and interstate compact policies and procedures;(F) Case classification and case management;(G) Supervision of offenders and continuum of sanctions (policies and procedures);(H) Internal case management audit procedures; and(I) 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 apply to the TDCJ CJAD director for authorization to establish more than one CSCD within the judicial district. The application submitted by the judge(s) shall explain how the creation of more than one CSCD will promote: (A) Administrative convenience;(C) Improved community supervision and corrections services and other reasons, if any.(2) The application 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 the many stakeholders affected by crime and wishes to acknowledge crime victims' interests and right 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. Training shall be specific to community supervision and should include: (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.37 Tex. Admin. Code § 163.21
The provisions of this §163.21 adopted to be effective January 2, 1992, 16 TexReg 7539; amended to be effective March 1, 1993, 18 TexReg 944; amended to be effective August 16, 1995, 20 TexReg 5799; amended to be effective October 13, 1997, 22 TexReg 9896; amended to be effective June 20, 2002, 27 TexReg 5220; amended to be effective April 17, 2003, 28 TexReg 3065; amended to be effective September 10, 2009, 34 TexReg 6122; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 42, Number 08, February 24, 2017, TexReg 766, eff. 3/5/2017