Sec. 614.007.  POWERS AND DUTIES.  The office shall:
(1)  determine the status of offenders with medical or mental impairments in the state criminal justice system;
(2)  identify needed services for offenders with medical or mental impairments;
(3)  develop a plan for meeting the treatment, rehabilitative, and educational needs of offenders with medical or mental impairments that includes a case management system and the development of community-based alternatives to incarceration;
(4)  cooperate in coordinating procedures of represented agencies for the orderly provision of services for offenders with medical or mental impairments;
(5)  evaluate programs in this state and outside this state for offenders with medical or mental impairments and recommend to the directors of state programs methods of improving the programs;
(6)  collect and disseminate information about available programs to judicial officers, law enforcement officers, probation and parole officers, providers of social services or treatment, and the public;
(7)  provide technical assistance to represented agencies and organizations in the development of appropriate training programs;
(8)  apply for and receive money made available by the federal or state government or by any other public or private source to be used by the office to perform its duties;
(9)  distribute to political subdivisions, private organizations, or other persons money appropriated by the legislature to be used for the development, operation, or evaluation of programs for offenders with medical or mental impairments;
(10)  develop and implement pilot projects to demonstrate a cooperative program to identify, evaluate, and manage outside of incarceration offenders with medical or mental impairments;  and
(11)  assess the need for demonstration projects and provide management for approved projects.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.  Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 107, Sec. 6.53(a), eff. Aug. 30, 1993;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 312, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1997;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1188, Sec. 3.04, eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 856, Sec. 10, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.