1. (a) An applicant for a temporary contract jailer certificate or a contract jailer certificate must:

   1. (1) be at least 18 years of age;
   2. (2) be fingerprinted and subjected to a search of local, state and national records and fingerprint files to disclose any criminal record;
   3. (3) not be on court-ordered community supervision or probation for any criminal offense above the grade of Class C misdemeanor;
   4. (4) not have been convicted of a misdemeanor offense above the grade of a Class C misdemeanor within the last five years;
   5. (5) not have ever been convicted at any time of a felony offense;

   6. (6) not have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony offense or placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for a misdemeanor or felony offense, if the offense directly relates to the duties and responsibilities of any office requiring such certificate. In determining whether a criminal offense directly relates to such office, the commission shall consider:

      1. (A) the nature and seriousness of the crime;
      2. (B) the relationship of the crime to the purpose for requiring a certificate for such office;
      3. (C) the extent to which a certificate might offer an opportunity to engage in further criminal activity of the same type as that in which the person had previously been involved; and
      4. (D) the relationship of the crime to the ability, capacity or fitness required to perform the duties and discharge the responsibilities of such office;
   7. (7) be of good moral character;
   8. (8) be subjected to a thorough, comprehensive background investigation and be interviewed personally prior to appointment by representatives of the employing contract jail;

   9. (9) meet one of the following minimum educational requirements:

      1. (A) be a high school graduate;
      2. (B) have passed a general educational development (GED) test indicating high school graduation level; or
      3. (C) have 12 semester hours credit from an accredited college or university;
   10. (10) be examined by a licensed physician and be declared in writing within 180 days before the date of employment by the contract jail to show no trace of drug dependency or illegal drug use after a physical examination, blood test, or other medical test administered by a licensed physician selected by the employing contract jail;
   11. (11) be examined by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist and be declared in writing by that professional within 180 days before the date of employment by the contract jail to be in satisfactory psychological and emotional health appropriate to the job of contract jailer. The psychological examination must be conducted pursuant to professionally recognized standards and methods by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, selected by the employing contract jail;

   12. (12) not have been discharged from any military service under less than honorable conditions, including, specifically:

       1. (A) under other than honorable conditions;
       2. (B) bad conduct;
       3. (C) dishonorable; or
       4. (D) any other characterization of service indicating bad character;
   13. (13) not have had any commission license or certificate denied by final order or revoked, or have a suspension or voluntary surrender of any commission license or certificate currently in effect; and
   14. (14) not violate any commission rule.

2. (b) The training standards for a contract jailer certificate are successful completion of:

   1. (1) the current basic county corrections course; or
   2. (2) previous training which has been certified by commission staff to be equivalent to the basic county corrections course.
3. (c) The basic county corrections course shall cover the subjects and be taught in accordance with the current instructor guides provided by the commission. Other appropriate training subjects may be added to the basic county corrections course.
4. (d) A person who fails to comply with the standards set forth in this section shall not accept the issuance of a certificate and shall not accept employment as a contract jailer.

5. (e) For the purposes of this section, the commission will construe any court-ordered community supervision, probation or conviction for a criminal offense to be its closest equivalent under the Texas Penal Code classification of offenses if the offense arose from:

   1. (1) another penal provision of Texas law; or
   2. (2) a penal provision of any other state, federal, military or foreign jurisdiction.
6. (f) A classification of an offense as a felony at the time of conviction will never be changed because Texas law has changed or because the offense would not be a felony under current Texas laws.
7. (g) The effective date of this section is September 1, 1998.

Source Note:The provisions of this §225.3 adopted to be effective March 1, 1998, 23 TexReg 427; amended to be effective September 1, 1998, 23 TexReg 8843.