Relating to increasing the criminal penalties for the offenses of providing or possessing with the intent to provide an alcoholic beverage, a controlled substance, or a dangerous drug to a person in the custody of a correctional facility, taking an alcoholic beverage, a controlled substance, or a dangerous drug into a correctional facility, and taking a controlled substance or dangerous drug on property owned, used, or controlled by a correctional facility.

Contracts

• Vendor MSAs: Review all Master Service Agreements with third-party providers (medical, food service, maintenance). You must mandate that vendors update their employee training to reflect these penalties. Strengthen indemnification clauses to cover legal costs arising from criminal investigations of vendor staff.
• Employment Agreements: Update "Termination for Cause" clauses to specifically cite Texas Penal Code Section 38.11(g-1) and (g-2). While you cannot contract away criminal liability, you must document a "Zero Tolerance" policy to defend against negligent supervision claims.

Hiring/Training

• Curriculum Update: Immediately revise annual contraband training. The curriculum must explicitly state: "Providing a controlled substance is now a 2nd Degree Felony. If an inmate dies, it is a 1st Degree Felony punishable by up to Life in Prison."
• Acknowledgment Forms: Require all current staff with badged access to sign an updated policy acknowledgment recognizing these specific statutory penalties. Do not rely on previous general acknowledgments.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• Incident Response: Update protocols for inmate overdoses. Staff must be trained to treat any overdose as a potential homicide crime scene immediately to preserve evidence for the inevitable 1st Degree Felony investigation.
• Investigation Firewalls: Legal counsel must oversee internal administrative reviews of inmate deaths to prevent employee statements from compromising the facility's position in parallel criminal investigations.

Fees & Costs

• Insurance Premiums: Expect upward pressure on Professional Liability and General Liability premiums, as a criminal conviction for an employee serves as *prima facie* evidence of negligence in civil wrongful death suits.
• Fines: The statute allows for fines up to $250,000 per offense against the individual actor.