| (a) Purpose. This rule provides Texas Juvenile Justice
Department (TJJD) youth with reasonable access and equal opportunity
within a facility to use the telephone for purposes of contacting:
(1) their families;
(2) the Incident Reporting Center maintained by the
TJJD Office of Inspector General for purposes of reporting information
concerning abuse, neglect, and exploitation; and
(3) the Office of the Independent Ombudsman for TJJD.
(b) Applicability. This rule does not apply to calls
to attorneys. For additional information on telephone calls to attorneys
and courts, see §380.9311 of this title.
(c) General Provisions. Use of the phone is a basic
right of youth in the TJJD system. For additional information on basic
rights of youth in the TJJD system, see §380.9301 of this title.
(d) Non-Emergency Calls. TJJD provides a specific number
of prepaid minutes for youth to make a reasonable number of calls
each month. Calls are restricted to the youth's parents, guardian,
immediate family members as defined in §380.9312 of this title,
and approved volunteers. Times are scheduled throughout each week
and weekend to provide youth with access to telephones for this purpose.
Additional prepaid minutes can be purchased.
(e) Emergency Calls.
(1) Family Emergencies. TJJD is responsible for the
cost of calls by or on behalf of the youth in cases of family emergencies
as approved by the case manager. Family emergency calls are not made
using prepaid minutes. All family emergency calls are to be placed
on a TJJD staff member's telephone.
(2) Calls to the Incident Reporting Center or the Office
of the Independent Ombudsman.
(A) Calls placed to the Incident Reporting Center or
the Office of the Independent Ombudsman do not count against a youth's
prepaid minutes.
(B) For calls to the Incident Reporting Center or the
Office of the Independent Ombudsman, TJJD allows access to the telephone
whenever possible, limited only by consideration for facility order
and the safety of youth and staff. TJJD staff may require youth to
wait until the end of the currently scheduled activity before placing
a telephone call.
(f) Recorded Phone Calls. All calls made on the youth
phone system under this rule are subject to being recorded unless
made confidential or privileged by a TJJD rule or statute. During
the initial orientation to TJJD and during all subsequent placement
orientations, youth are informed that all calls on the youth phone
system are subject to being recorded. Recorded phone calls may be
accessed only by the appropriately designated staff members.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §380.9313 adopted to be effective December 31, 1996, 21 TexReg 12187; transferred effective June 4, 2012, as published in the Texas Register June 22, 2012, 37 TexReg 4639; amended to be effective October 1, 2015, 40 TexReg 6138; amended to be effective May 20, 2019, 44 TexReg 2463 |
