Texas heat wave has inmates' families worried about lack of air conditioning in state's prisons

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A heat wave that has consistently pushed temperatures well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) across much of Texas this summer had family members of inmates on Tuesday calling for lawmakers to ensure that all of the state’s prisons are fully air conditioned.

“They’re cooking our inmates in the Texas prison system,” said Tona Southards Naranjo, who believes the death last month of her son, Jon Southards, was caused by excessive heat in his prison, the Estelle Unit in Huntsville. Naranjo was one of more than 60 people who attended a rally outside the Texas Capitol on Tuesday.

Advocates and others have been highly critical of the lack of air conditioning in the nation’s largest prison system, alleging temperatures that often go past 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius) inside Texas prisons in the summer have been responsible for hundreds of inmate deaths in recent years. Only about 30% of Texas’ 100 prison units are fully air conditioned, with the rest having partial or no air conditioning. Texas currently has more than 128,000 inmates.

However, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or TDCJ, says there have been no heat-related deaths in the state’s prisons since 2012. Officials are still investigating what caused Jon Southards’ death, said Amanda Hernandez, a TDCJ spokesperson. At least eight other inmate deaths in recent weeks that advocates allege are heat-related were either due to cardiac arrest or other medical conditions, Hernandez said. The cause of some are still under investigation.

https://apnews.com/article/texas-prison-air-conditioning-families-rally-bdd5f3d46462d804cc1d8c7116af5d1d

[MontanaMama]

1. I would think that would be cruel and unusual punishment.

But, Texas.

[Stargazer99]

2. The families should have thought of that when they voted Republican

[hedda_foil]

5. Most of the families of prisoners wouldn't be white Republicans.

[Chainfire]

4. I guess that partially air conditioned means the staff areas are cooled.

Many of Florida's state prisons don't have air conditioning either.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Inmates are dying in stifling Texas prisons, but the state seldom acknowledges heat as a cause of de

Texas prisons are inhumane with no air conditioning. Prisoners are dying due to this heat

Link to tweet

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/28/texas-prisons-heat-deaths/

McCullough was one of at least five prisoners since mid-June to die of a reported heart attack or cardiac arrest in uncooled prisons where the regions’ outdoor heat indices were above 100 degrees, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of prison death reports and weather data. Another man who died last week in a separate Huntsville prison was only 34.

At least four other prisoners died in hot prisons this month with undetermined causes of death.....

More than two-thirds of Texas’ 100 prisons don’t have air conditioning in most living areas. Every summer, as temperatures routinely soar well into triple digits, thousands of officers and tens of thousands of prisoners are cramped inside concrete and steel buildings without ventilation, save windows broken out of desperation and fans that blow hot air. The heat has killed prisoners, likely contributed to severe staff shortages, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits over the last decade.

This year, state lawmakers chose again not to put any money directly toward installing air conditioning in the dangerously hot prisons, despite a $32.7 billion budget surplus.