Recently, our office received a letter from TDCJ, signed by a person in the Restitution/Fees Section, asking for us to fill out a form that details restitution information on a defendant sentenced to prison. They wanted victim name, address, amount, etc.

We declined, mailing them instead a copy of the judgment, which had the restitution amount itemized and directed them to our probation department for details on the name and location of the victim. As you may recall from last legislative session, article 42.01, sec. 1(25), permits a judge to list restitution in this manner to avoid putting the victim's name and location in a public record. TDCJ is free to contact the probation department for those details.

I was concerned about the letter because it mentioned that such a form could be used in future "State Ready Packets", implying that a prisoner was not paper-ready until this new form is completed.

Have you seen this form? How did you handle it?