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Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 49.18. Death In Custody

Legal Research Home > Texas Laws > Code of Criminal Procedure > Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 49.18. Death In Custody

Art. 49.18. [983] [1074] [1037] DEATH IN CUSTODY.  (a) If a 
person confined in a penal institution dies, the sheriff or other 
person in charge of the penal institution shall as soon as 
practicable inform the justice of the peace of the precinct where 
the penal institution is located of the death.
	(b)  If a person dies while in the custody of a peace officer 
or as a result of a peace officer's use of force or if a person 
incarcerated in a jail, correctional facility, or state juvenile 
facility dies, the director of the law enforcement agency of which 
the officer is a member or of the facility in which the person was 
incarcerated shall investigate the death and file a written report 
of the cause of death with the attorney general no later than the 
30th day after the date on which the person in custody or the 
incarcerated person died.  The director shall make a good faith 
effort to obtain all facts relevant to the death and include those 
facts in the report.  The attorney general shall make the report, 
with the exception of any portion of the report that the attorney 
general determines is privileged, available to any interested 
person.
	(c)  Subsection (a) does not apply to a death that occurs in a 
facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Department of 
Criminal Justice.  Subsection (b) does not apply to a death that 
occurs in a facility operated by or under contract with the Texas 
Department of Criminal Justice if the death occurs under 
circumstances described by Section 501.055(b)(2), Government Code.
	(d)  In this article:                                                          
	(1)  "Correctional facility" means a confinement facility or 
halfway house operated by or under contract with any division of the 
Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
	(2)  "In the custody of a peace officer" means:                                
	(A)  under arrest by a peace officer;  or                                      
	(B)  under the physical control or restraint of a peace 
officer.             
	(3)  "State juvenile facility" means any facility or halfway 
house:          
	(A)  operated by or under contract with the Texas Youth 
Commission;  or      
	(B)  described by Section 51.02(13) or (14), Family Code.                      

Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 529, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1987;  Subsec. (c) added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 321, Sec. 
1.106, eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Subsec. (c) amended by Acts 1997, 75th 
Leg., ch. 1422, Sec. 1, eff. June 20, 1997;  Subsec. (b) amended by 
Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 894, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003;  Subsec. 
(c) amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 894, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
2003;  Subsec. (d) added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 894, Sec. 1, 
eff. Sept. 1, 2003.

Last modified: August 11, 2007