r 

ORNEY GENERAL 

0 P?=XAS 

October 24, 1958 

Mr. 0. B. Ellis, Director 

Texas Department of Corrections 

Huntsville, Texas 

Opinion No. ww-518 

Re: Computation of time to be 

credited on the term of a 

prisoner while he is confined In a State mental 

Dear Mr. Ellis: hospital. 

Your request for an opinion cqncerns the question of 

whether the provisions of House Bill 906, 55th Legislature, 

Regular Session, 1957, which repeals all existing statutes 

and makes provisions for prisoners to receive credit for t.ime 

while Inmental institutions J be retroactive In the case of a 

prisoner who was in Rusk State Mental Hospital at the time the 

Bill was passed. 

Section 17 of House Bill 906, 55th Leglslature,Regular 

Session, 1957, chapter 486, at page 1416, also Article 932b 

of Vernon's Annotated Code of Criminal Procedure,, provides: 

"The time a prisoner is confined in a 

State mental hospital for treatment shall be 

considered time served and shall be credited 

to the term of his sentence, but he shall not 

be entitled to any commutation of sentence for 

good conduct while he is under treatment in a 

mental hospital." 

The effective date of this statute was January 1, 1958. 

In our Opinion No, O-5721, addressed to the Texas 

Prison System, Bureau of Records and Identification, Huntsville, Texas, we passed upon the question whether inmates 

of the Texas Prison System who may at various times be adjulged insane and committed to State institutions for the 

insane are entitled to the benefits of the commutation of 

time as prescribed by law. 

In answering that question, we said: 
Mr. 0. B. Ellis, page 2 (W-518 ) 

"We are of the opinion thatthe 

foregoing discussion dislcoses a legislative policy In Texas of not subjecting 

insane persons to criminal punishment and 

that the time spent by an insane In a 

state hospital should not be counted on 

his sentence as a criminal." 

This opinion was based primarily on the following 

authorities: 

Article 2 of the Penal, Code provides: 

"The object of punishment is to 

supress crime and reform the offender." 

Article 34 of the Penal Code in part reads: 

11 

after he 

while In 

No person who becomes insane 

is'found guilty shall be punished 

such condition." 

Articles 925 and 928 of Vernon's Code of Criminal 

Procedure respectively provide: 

"Upon the trial of an issue of 

insanity, if the defendant is found to 

be insane, all further proceedings in the 

case against him shall be suspended until 

he becomes sane." 

"If the defendant becomessane, he 

shall be brought before the court In which 

he was convlkted or before the District Court 

In the County in which the defendant is located 

at the time he is alleged to have become sane; 

and, a jury shall be impaneled in the Court before which such defendant is brought to try the 

issue of his sanity; and, if he is found to be 

sane, the conviction shall be enforced against 

him as if the proceedings had never been suspended." 

Also see Article 6184 L, Vernon's Civil Statutes, which 

provides for allowing convicts overtime for good conduct. 

Section 16 of Article I of the Texas Constitution provides: 
c - 

XI-. 0. B. Ellis, page 3 (~~-518) 

“ib bili of attainder. ex nest 

facto law, retroactive law-or any law 

impairing the obligation of contracts 

shall be made.!' (lkphasis added.) 

In 39 Texas Jurisprudence, page 54, we find the follovring language: 

11 

. . t A statute will not be 

applied or construed retrospedtively or 

given retroactive operation, so as to 

affect existing rights or create new 

obligations and impose new duties as to 

past transactiors,unless It clearly 

appears, from its terms or at least by 

fair implication, that the Legislature 

so intended. On the contrary, a statute 

is generally held to operate prospectively 

unless a contrary construction is required 

by the terms or the nature and object of 

i-.!l e law . It is always presumed that a 

;statute, not relating merely to remedies 

and modes of procedure, is intended to 

operate prospectively, and all doubts 

are resolved in favor of such construction." 

(Giting City of ,Ft. Worth v. Morrow, 284 

,; . Y . 275 . 

_, 

L ; ic our opinion after examining Rouse Bill 906, 

7 .::$.:::!n ' i!... 7 ('C ) Regular Session, 1957, that the Legislature 

,'~: :I ~., i-,-,t intend either clearly or by fair implication to make 

..,LL .y c;t,-.t-utc retroactive in operation. Even if the statute 

:!::: rC?;;x::ct4ve in operation the retroactive part would be voi,, '3 

:> ) ,-; ,,-, 1;. cj <p v%olat~ve of the Texas Constitution, Article IV, 

-:.::,yy.n:> : I., y]:j,ch places all matters of clemency, reprieves, 

.: ol.:1,:1~::-11t:i.(:!::: and pardons, 1.1~ the Governor. (See Ex Parte 

;,;~Y ~;~is:lo:,, 152 s.:!. 2nd 289; Gilderbloom v. State, 272 S.W. 2nd 

?' )t is our opinion that the time spend by prisoners who 

i.;~~‘~: :iLn ; state mental hospj.tal prior to January 1, 1958, does 

;~!,'I<: (>i?i;;C LX&X- Section 17 of House Bill 906, 55th Legislature, 

:y~.~~:.y;>.- :~egs:uon, 1957; that the time spent by prisoners after 

,T~Y.yJlJ~-q? 1~ , rgqj, in such state mentz.1 hospitals would come under 

;:?oction 3.7 of- House Bill 906, 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 

1?_;7. 
Mr. 0. B. Ellis, page 4. mw-518) 

SUMMARY 

Section 17 of House Bill 906, 55th 

Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, 

is not a retroactive statute which 

would give prisoners credit for 

time spent while under treatment in 

a state mental hospital prior to 

January 1, 1958. 

Yours very truly, 

LEP:mfh 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

Assistant 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman 

J. Milton Ri~chardson 

Jack Goodman 

Wm. R Hemphill 

Dean Davis 

Morgan Nesbitt 

R$?IEW$DVFCRTgr,TTORNEY GENERAL 

: . .