Sec. 501.010.  VISITORS.  (a)  In this section:
(1)  "Guardian" has the meaning assigned by Section 1002.012, Estates Code.
(2)  "Letters of guardianship" means a certificate issued under Section 1106.001(a), Estates Code. 
(a-1)  The institutional division shall allow the governor, members of the legislature, and members of the executive and judicial branches to enter at proper hours any part of a facility operated by the division where inmates are housed or worked, for the purpose of observing the operations of the division.  A visitor described by this subsection may talk with inmates away from institutional division employees.
(b)  The institutional division shall have a uniform visitation policy that allows eligible inmates housed in facilities operated by the division, other than state jails, to receive visitors.  The institutional division shall require each warden in the division to:
(1)  apply the policy in the unit under the warden's control;
(2)  prominently display copies of the policy in locations in the unit that are accessible to inmates or visitors;  and
(3)  if requested, provide visitors with copies of the policy.
(b-1)  The uniform visitation policy must:
(1)  allow visitation by a guardian of an inmate to the same extent as the inmate's next of kin, including placing the guardian on the inmate's approved visitors list on the guardian's request and providing the guardian access to the inmate during a facility's standard visitation hours if the inmate is otherwise eligible to receive visitors; and
(2)  require the guardian to provide the warden with letters of guardianship before being allowed to visit the inmate. 
(b-2)  Regardless of the implementation of video visitation or visitation by other electronic means, the uniform visitation policy must allow in-person visitation for eligible inmates, provided that the policy may allow the temporary suspension of in-person visitation for a health or safety emergency.
(c)  At the end of each biennium, each warden in the institutional division shall report to the director of the division on the manner in which the policy has affected visitation at the warden's unit during the preceding two years.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 212, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Renumbered from Sec. 500.010 and amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, Sec. 10.01(a), eff. Aug. 26, 1991.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 321, Sec. 1.077, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.
Amended by: 
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 688 (H.B. 634), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2015.
Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 328 (H.B. 2708), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2023.