A notorious killer who has been in and out of prison has picked up a new charge, officials said. Wesley Wayne Miller, who already was in jail on a civil commitment for killing a former classmate, is accused of having a secret relationship with a female Tarrant County jailer.

Mr. Miller, 45, has been charged with violating a civil commitment order, a third-degree felony. Because of his prior record, Mr. Miller could be sent back to prison for life if he is convicted of the new charge.

The alleged contact took place at the Cold Springs jail, officials said. The jailer is on leave pending an internal affairs investigation, said Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the Tarrant County sheriff’s office.

Mr. Miller served a 25-year sentence for the 1982 stabbing death of Retha Stratton, an 18-year-old Castleberry High School cheerleader who rejected his advances. He became Texas’ first convicted killer to be committed under the state’s sexually violent predator program.

Mr. Miller’s earlier paroles were revoked in 1991, when he was convicted of assaulting a Wichita Falls woman, and again in 1998 when he declined to participate in sex offender counseling.