Due Process Requirements for Administering Discipline

When an inmate in Texas is disciplined, there is a process that must be followed by the jailers. The following is information on that process:

• A disciplinary hearing before a neutral and impartial officer or board will be held and no one involved in the alleged charges or violations shall be among them.
• If a facility has an inmate capacity of 50 or less one person can be the disciplinary officer. Otherwise, there will be a selection of a disciplinary board. A disciplinary officer can manage disciplinary hearings for minor infractions.
• Provisions must be made to ensure that an inmate receives 24 hours written notice about any claimed violations or charges against him or her.
• An inmate can waive the right to a disciplinary hearing if proper notification is given before the waiver is signed. Such a waiver shall include the appropriate identification of charges, the sanctions that are allowed, and the sanctions that are waived. A waiver must not include the loss of good time as a sanction.
• A jail must make provisions for the disclosure of the evidence against an inmate who has been charged with a violation, although confidential informants’ identity can be obscured.

See Part 1, Part 2, and this ongoing series to learn about inappropriate discipline allegedly applied at a jail outside Texas and for more information from the minimum jail standards in Texas regarding jail discipline.

The posts on this website are intended as informational resources. There is never an intention to make any sort of implication that an individual or institution has been involved in wrongdoing of any kind.

–Guest Contributor