(a) The department shall require each inmate and each defendant or releasee housed in a facility operated by or under contract with the department to work in an agricultural, industrial, or other work program to the extent that the inmate, defendant, or releasee is physically and mentally capable of working. The department may waive the work requirement for an inmate, defendant, or releasee as necessary to maintain security or to permit the inmate, defendant, or releasee to participate in rehabilitative programming.
(b) The board may develop by rule and the department may administer an incentive pay scale program for inmates required to work in agricultural, industrial, or other work programs. In developing the program, the board shall set pay levels not to unjustly reward inmates, but rather to instruct inmates on the virtues of diligent participation in the workplace. The department shall deposit an amount earned by an inmate under this subsection into the inmate’s trust fund and may deduct not more than 80 percent of the amount deposited under this subsection for payment of restitution and dependent care owed by the inmate. This subsection does not apply to the compensation of an inmate participating in a Texas Correctional Industries program under Subchapter A or an inmate participating in a private sector prison industries program under Subchapter C.