Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Overview

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) oversees state prisons, state jails, and privately contracted correctional facilities. TDCJ is overseen by the nine member Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ). TBCJ members are appointed by the governor, serve six-year terms, are responsible for hiring TDCJ’s executive director, and set the rules and policies that guide TDCJ.

The mission of TDCJ is “to provide public safety, promote positive change in offender behavior, reintegrate offenders into society, and assist victims of crime1.” TDCJ is comprised of 17 divisions, inclusive of subdivisions that manage and operate the agency, provide supervision, and provide services to victims. There are a number of subdivisions responsible for addressing behavioral health needs and overseeing related programs, including the Office of Mental Health Monitoring and Liaison (OMHM&L) under the Health Services Division, and Peer Recovery Support Services and Substance Use Treatment Programs under the Rehabilitation Programs Division.2,3

TDCJ operates programs for community re-entry and reducing recidivism, including connection to mental health and substance use services.4 Within the Reentry and Integration Division, the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments (TCOOMMI) provides pre-release screenings and referrals to aftercare treatment services for justice-involved people who have medical or mental health needs from TDCJ settings. TCOOMMI contracts with Local Mental Health Authorities (LMHAs) to provide continuity of care services for justice-involved people on probation or parole by linking them with community-based services.5

TDCJ has 100 facilities located throughout the state in six regions, with headquarters in both Austin and Huntsville.6 Individuals in the TDCJ system are placed in a facility based on their level of felony, medical or mental health need, or programmatic need.7 A complete list of facilities by type can be found at the online unit directory.

Prior to interaction with TDCJ, people are held in county or local jails after an arrest, while awaiting trial, or after a low-level crime conviction. Some people in county or local jails are awaiting transfer to TDCJ or a state jail. Local jails are operated by counties or municipalities and usually managed by a county sheriff. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) is the regulatory agency for local jails, however it does not provide oversight within city-operated municipal jails as they are not regulated by any external agencies.

Released in June 2022, TDCJ’s strategic plan outlines its goals and action plans for FY 2023-27 and can be found at its strategic plan webpage. TDCJ awards grant funding to county stakeholders to pursue its first goal: “provide diversions to traditional incarceration through the use of effective community supervision and other community-based programs.”8

Recognizing that many unmet mental health or substance use needs often result in criminal justice involvement, TDCJ is involved in state agency collaborative groups focused on forensic services and diverting individuals with behavioral health needs out of the criminal justice system. These include:

More information on forensic services is in the Policy Environment section on State Hospitals.

Organizational Chart

To see the Texas Department of Criminal Justice organizational chart, visit this page.

Fast Facts

  • Correctional officers working within TDCJ receive 37 hours of mental health crisis intervention training, including suicide prevention, through the Pre-Service Training Academy.9
  • Jail staff identify “special needs offenders” and if they have received state-funded services by searching through DPS’ Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (TLETS) and HHSC’s Clinical Management for Behavioral Health Services (CMBHS) data exchange.
  • Utilizing the TLETS/CMBHS data exchange, between September 1, 2020, and June 17, 2021:
    • 644,795 searches for mental health (MH) were requested, of which 31,053 were exact and 178,149 were probable matches.
    • 372,544 IDD searches were requested, of which 368 were exact and 14,087 were probable.10
  • At the end of 2023, over 2,000 individuals were on the forensic waitlist for a state hospital bed.11
  • Most individuals on the forensic waitlist are found incompetent to stand trial (IST), however a small number have been committed to receive inpatient mental health services at a state hospital after being found not guilty by reason of insanity under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 46C.12
  • As January 2024, HHSC reports 67 percent of state hospital beds being utilized for forensic commitments.13
  • As of May 2023, Texas had the highest imprisonment rate in the world with a rate of 840 people per 100,000 residents.14
  • As of July 2022, over 121,000 adults of the over 400,000 adult Texans on probation, parole, or in prison were in a TDCJ facility.15
  • As of August 2023, over 10,000 females were in TDCJ’s custody across 17 facilities.16
  • In December 2023, 396 pregnant women were booked in Texas county jails.17
  • In FY 23, Black Americans made up 32.3 percent of TDCJ’s population, compared to the 13.4 percent they comprise of Texas’s population.18,19
  • As of October 2022, nearly 140,000 arrests for the year were for non-violent possession of controlled substances, a large majority for small amounts. Another 89,000 arrests were for driving while intoxicated.20

Policy Concerns

Prevention

  • Increase early identification of persons with mental health and substance conditions and intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) and connect them with needed community-based services.
  • Increase utilization of certified re-entry peer support specialists across the state, a new certification offered by HHSC and PeerForce.
  • Provide more resources in the community to support the mental health and well-being of individuals to prevent unnecessary criminal justice involvement.
  • Expand mental health public defender programs statewide.
  • Address waitlists for forensic services that impact individuals’ time in confinement before being charged with a crime.
  • Expand access to specialty courts, like mental health courts, drug courts, and veterans’ courts, to divert people with mental health concerns and substance use issues away from correctional settings.
  • Divert individuals who call 9-1-1 during an overdose away from the criminal justice system by enacting a stronger overdose “Good Samaritan” law.
  • Ensure any needed medications are available when someone is released from a facility.
  • Address wait lists for forensic services that increase individuals’ time spent in confinement before being charged with a crime.
  • Expand access to specialty courts, like mental health courts, drug courts, and veterans’ courts, to divert people with mental health concerns and substance use issues away from correctional settings.
  • Improve mental health and substance use awareness and decrease stigma through cross-system collaborations of law enforcement agencies, local jail facilities, courts, attorneys, and local mental health authorities (LMHA) in rural areas.
  • Improve the mandates of the Sandra Bland Act by implementing telehealth and telemedicine mental health services inside of jail and prison facilities for people with lesser acute mental illnesses.
  • Improve continuity of care for people with mental health and substance use concerns as they transition from incarceration settings to communities, including case management, therapy, medications, outpatient treatment plans, and reentry peer support services.

Within TDCJ Facilities

  • Increase utilization of certified re-entry peer support specialists across the state, a new certification offered by HHSC and PeerForce.
  • Provide more resources in the community to support the mental health and well-being of individuals to prevent unnecessary criminal justice involvement.
  • Expand mental health public defender programs statewide.
  • Address waitlists for forensic services that impact individuals’ time in confinement before being charged with a crime.
  • Expand access to specialty courts, like mental health courts, drug courts, and veterans’ courts, to divert people with mental health concerns and substance use issues away from correctional settings.
  • Divert individuals who call 9-1-1 during an overdose away from the criminal justice system by enacting a stronger overdose “Good Samaritan” law.
  • Ensure any needed medications are available when someone is released from a facility.
  • Address wait lists for forensic services that increase individuals’ time spent in confinement before being charged with a crime.
  • Expand access to specialty courts, like mental health courts, drug courts, and veterans’ courts, to divert people with mental health concerns and substance use issues away from correctional settings.
  • Improve mental health and substance use awareness and decrease stigma through cross-system collaborations of law enforcement agencies, local jail facilities, courts, attorneys, and local mental health authorities (LMHA) in rural areas.
  • Improve the mandates of the Sandra Bland Act by implementing telehealth and telemedicine mental health services inside of jail and prison facilities for people with lesser acute mental illnesses.
  • Improve continuity of care for people with mental health and substance use concerns as they transition from incarceration settings to communities, including case management, therapy, medications, outpatient treatment plans, and reentry peer support services.

Legislative Overview

The intersection of mental health, substance use, IDD, and criminal justice continues to be a priority for counties, law enforcement, the judicial system, and mental health stakeholders. During the 88th legislative session, there were several bills focused on improving policies and procedures for individuals with mental health concerns and individuals with IDD, including efforts to connect justice-involved people to SNAP benefits and making changes to medical transportation and healthcare.

Stakeholders know that harm reduction, prevention, treatment, and recovery supports for individuals and families can minimize community trauma caused by punitive responses to substance use involving the criminal justice system. However, despite optimism going into session generated from Governor Abbott’s support for harm reduction strategies such as decriminalizing fentanyl strips, the bill ultimately failed in the Senate.

Successful passage of HB 6 (Goldman/Huffman), which further creates punitive, criminal justice-focused responses to substance use, allowing prosecutors to seek a murder charge for a person who manufactures or delivers fentanyl when someone dies as a result of use, raised concerns for many stakeholders. Advocates believe these policies further continue the reliance on a punitive response to substance use and exacerbate the presence of individuals with substance use issues within the TDCJ population.

Passed

HB 6 (Goldman/Huffman) – Allows Murder Charge Prosecution in the Event of An Overdose

Increases the criminal penalties for the manufacturing or delivery of fentanyl, expands the conduct constituting murder, and creates two criminal offenses involving the manufacture or delivery of certain opioids.

HB 1743 (Leach/West) – SNAP Benefits for Justice-involved People Upon Release

Requires TDCJ to enter into a memorandum of understanding with HHSC to ensure that justice-involved people who are likely to be eligible for SNAP benefits to be assessed by HHSC for eligibility of those benefits before the person’s discharge or release.

HB 4085 (Spiller/Perry) – State or County Payment for Mental Health Judicial Hearings

Requires the state or county to pay a filing fee or other costs related to hearing or procedures for people committed to a private mental hospital; the judge must order the clerk of the court to refund court costs for these hearings for people who are indigent, under a contract with a LMHA, or the facility was paid by Medicaid.

SB 1319 (Huffman/Turner, Chris) – Overdose Reporting And Mapping

Requires local health authority or law enforcement agency to provide overdose information to an entity that maintains a computerized system for mapping overdoses.

SB 1146 (West/Klick) – Medical Transportation and Healthcare or Justice -Involved People

Requires TDCJ to establish procedures for transportation of justice-involved women, including access to buses with appropriate bathrooms and related items and nutrition; requires TDCJ to establish procedures to increase telemedicine and telehealth services for justice-involved people, including on-site mobile care units.

SB 2479 (Zaffirini/Moody) – Procedures for People with Mental Illness or Intellectual Disability

Allows electronic application for emergency detention warrants by both physicians and licensed mental health professionals employed by a local mental health authority (LMHA), allows judges to use Article 16.22 procedures for people who have committed Class C misdemeanors, allows people with certain non-violent offenses who are eligible for a mental health personal bond to be released, clarifies a law enforcement officer’s duties when they are taking a person for mental health inpatient services, and allows blood draws for people who are subject to involuntary psychiatric medications.

Did Not Pass

HB 85/ HB 362/ HbB685/ HB 867/ HB 1018/ HB 2042/ SB 207/ SB495 – Relating to the Use, Possession, Delivery, or Manufacture of Testing Equipment That Identifies the Presence of Fentanyl, Alpha-Methylfentanyl, or Any Other Derivative of Fentanyl.

Would have removed fentanyl testing strips from the definition of “drug paraphernalia” regarding the offense of the offense of possessing or delivering drug paraphernalia.

Funding

TDCJ Funding Trends: All Funds 21,22,23,24

References

  1. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (June 2022). Agency strategic plan Fiscal Years 2023-2027 [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/bfd/Agency_Strategic_Plan_FY2023-2027.pdf ↩︎
  2. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (n.d.). Health services. Retrieved January 12, 2024 from https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/divisions/hsd/clinical_services.html ↩︎
  3. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (n.d.). Rehabilitative programs division. Retrieved February 27, 2024 from https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/divisions/rpd/index.html. ↩︎
  4. [1] Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (n.d.). Reentry and integration division. Retrieved January 12, 2024 from https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/divisions/rid/index.html#:~:text=continuity%20of%20care.-,The%20Texas%20Correctional%20Office%20on%20Offenders%20with%20Medical%20or%20Mental,jails%2C%20or%20other%20referral%20sources. ↩︎
  5. Ibid. ↩︎
  6. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (n.d.). Unit directory. Retrieved January 12, 2024 from https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/unit_directory/index.html ↩︎
  7. Ibid. ↩︎
  8. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (2022). Agency strategic plan fiscal years 2023-2027. https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/bfd/Agency_Strategic_Plan_FY2023-2027.pdf ↩︎
  9. Ibid. ↩︎
  10. Texas Health and Human Services. (2021). Annual report on the screening of offenders with mental impairment. https://www.hhs.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/laws-regulations/reports-presentations/2021/hb1-annual-report-screening-offenders-mental-impairment-sept-2021.pdf ↩︎
  11. Texas Health and Human Services. (2023). Reports on waiting lists for mental health services. https://www.hhs.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/mhs-waiting-lists-may-2023.pdf ↩︎
  12. Texas Health and Human Services. (2023). State hospital forensic waitlist report Fiscal Year 2023. https://www.hhs.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/state-hospital-forensic-waitlist-report-fy2023.pdf ↩︎
  13. Carr, K. (2024, January 17). State hospital update: A presentation for the Joint Committee on Access and Forensic Services [PowerPoint slides]. Texas Health and Human Services.  https://www.hhs.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/jan-2024-jcaf-agenda-item-8a.pdf ↩︎
  14. Wang, L. (2023). Punishment beyond prisons 2023: Incarceration and supervision by state. Prison Policy Initiative.  https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/correctionalcontrol2023.htmlhttps://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/TX.html ↩︎
  15. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (2022). Biennial reentry and reintegration services report.https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/rid/RID_Reentry_Biennial_Report_09_2022.pdf ↩︎
  16.  Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (2023). 2023 programs for females. https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/rpd/RPD_Annual_Report_Female_Programming2023.pdf ↩︎
  17. https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tcjs.state.tx.us%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F01%2FPregnantFemaleReportingCurrent.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK ↩︎
  18. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (2023). Statistical report Fiscal Year 2023. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/TX/PST045223#PST045223 ↩︎
  19. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (2023). Statistical report Fiscal Year 2023. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/TX/PST045223#PST045223 ↩︎
  20. Texas Department of Safety. (2023). 2023 Arrest stats by offence [Excel]. https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dps.texas.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdocuments%2Fadministration%2Fcrime_records%2Fpages%2Faareststatsoffense23.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK ↩︎
  21. Texas Legislature Online (2017). S.B. 1, General Appropriations Act, 85th Legislature, FY 2018-19. Retrieved from https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/85R/billtext/pdf/SB00001F.pdf#navpanes=0 ↩︎
  22. Texas Legislature Online (2019). H.B. 1, General Appropriations Act, 86th Legislature, FY 2020-21.  https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/pdf/HB00001F.pdf#navpanes=0 ↩︎
  23. Texas Legislature Online (2021). S.B. 1, General Appropriations Act, 87th Legislature, FY 2022-23. https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/pdf/SB00001F.pdf#navpanes=0 ↩︎
  24. Texas Legislature Online (2023). H.B. 1, General Appropriations Act, 88th Legislature, FY 2024-25. https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/HB00001F.pdf#navpanes=0 ↩︎

Updated on December 16th, 2024



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