§ 63.007.Garnishment of Funds Held in Inmate Trust Fund

A targeted provision, and its second subsection is what makes the first work.

A writ of garnishment may be issued against an inmate trust fund held under the authority of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to encumber money held for the benefit of an inmate in the fund.

The obstacle this removes is sovereign immunity. The fund is held by a state agency, and a writ of garnishment is a proceeding against the holder — which the state could not be subjected to without its consent.

Subsection (b) gives that consent, and no more: the state’s sovereign immunity to suit is waived only to the extent necessary to authorize a garnishment action in accordance with this section.

"Only to the extent necessary" is doing careful work. The waiver reaches the garnishment and nothing else — it does not open the department to other claims arising from the same facts.

The practical significance is for crime victims and other judgment creditors. An inmate with a judgment against them may have no reachable assets except money family has deposited, and this makes that money reachable.

"Encumber" rather than "seize" is the verb chosen, which fits how garnishment operates — the writ freezes the account and the entitlement is resolved afterwards.

The provision sits alongside the inmate litigation chapter’s own use of the same account, which draws percentages of deposits to pay court costs.

So the trust account answers in two directions: to the courts for the inmate’s own filings, and to judgment creditors through this section.