After speaking with a Montgomery County Court judge, state Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, decided he needed to help ensure visitation rights for legal guardians of state wards.

Through Metcalf’s House Bill 634, a legal guardian of a ward in the criminal justice system can maintain visitation rights. The bill also grants guardians the ability to request defense for the ward and to sign any necessary documents.

“[Judge Claudia Laird] and I have been working on it for several months,” Metcalf said. “If you’re declared a ward of the state, it has already been declared that you are incapable of doing things on your own terms or making decisions for yourself. So whenever those wards get into the criminal justice system, this [bill] will help their guardian [by providing] the ability to fill out the necessary paperwork.”

This law does not provide retroactive rights to legal guardians of people who have already been incarcerated prior to Sept. 1 of this year, Metcalf said. Only people who enter the Texas criminal justice system after that date can have their legal guardian listed on an approved visitor’s list in the same way as their most immediate family member can.

The bill also provides details on a laundry list of amendments to government code relating to the treatment of inmates and the management of the correctional facilities. One of those amendments calls for a required annual report about the conditions of every county jail in Texas, including details on state law compliance.

The bill also features a requirement to use a classification system to rank which defendants would best be able to participate in a county jail work release.