Under Texas law, animal shelters must keep temperatures below 85 degrees to protect dogs, cats and other creatures from extreme summer heat. Humans locked up in Texas prisons aren’t so lucky.
There is no state law regulating temperatures in state correctional facilities, yet more than two-thirds of Texas prisoners are suffering through the sweltering summer of 2023 without air conditioning. Temperatures inside some Texas prison walls routinely soar above 100 degrees, according to a 2022 Texas A&M University study. To try to cope, inmates have resorted to breaking windows to improve air flow or flooding their toilets and laying down on wet floors to cool off.
Prison reform advocates say heat is killing inmates
These desperate and dehumanizing measures aren’t always enough. Nine Texas prison inmates died from heart attacks or unknown causes during the recent heat wave that began in mid-June, including three inmates in their thirties, according to the Texas Tribune. TDCJ officials said investigations are ongoing. But prison reform advocates are convinced extreme prison heat is killing Texas inmates, many of whom suffer from mental illness or medical conditions exacerbated by searing temperatures.
A study of mortality in Texas prisons during warm months between 2001 and 2019 by Brown University School of Public Health found that an average of 14 heat-related deaths per year occurred in Texas prisons without air conditioning. There were no heat-related deaths in facilities with air conditioning. Prolonged exposure to hotter than average temperatures can lead to a cascade of illnesses, including heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, hyperthermia and death, according to the World Health Organization.
Only about 42,000 of the 128,000 inmates locked up in Texas prison system sleep in cool beds, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told the Houston Chronicle in June. Just 31of the state’s 100 prisons had air conditioning for prisoners as of May.
With a record $32 billion state budget surplus, the Texas House voted this year to spend $545 million to add air conditioning to all Texas prisons. It was a sensible and humane act, but the Senate killed the bill. Michele Deitch, director of the LBJ School of Public Affairs’ Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas, said given the potential liabilities, the Senate’s inaction is “absolutely shocking.”
“Investing in climate control in Texas prisons would not only save lives, it would save money for the state because it would prevent liability,” Deitch told the Editorial Board. “It’s simply the right thing to do.”
Scorching prisons cause collateral damage
It’s not just inmates who are suffering. The turnover rate for Texas Department of Criminal Justice corrections officers topped 40 percent between 2021 and 2022. That’s double the turnover rate of all state employees during the same period. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Who would want to work or live in such hellish conditions?
The lack of air conditioning is also costing Texas taxpayers. Five years ago, the state settled a high-profile lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates at the Wallace Pack Unit near College Station for $7 million, and agreed to add air conditioning at the facility at a cost of $4 million. The TDCJ has since agreed to create cooled areas in other Texas prisons so heat-stressed inmates can get temporary relief. The state also agreed to provide water and ice when possible and allow inmates to take additional showers and purchase personal fans and cooling towels from the prison commissary.
That’s not good enough. With the health and safety risks posed in a state as hot as Texas, all prisons should have air conditioning. Gov. Greg Abbott is adamant about calling lawmakers back into special sessions until the legislature approves property tax relief and school vouchers. He should add air conditioning at state prisons to their agendas. We are aware that some state lawmakers and many in the public at large don’t care about the plight of convicted criminals serving time behind bars. But serving time in prison is their punishment. Forcing prison inmates to endure dangerous temperatures that few Americans would be willing or able to tolerate is cruel and unusual punishment, prohibited under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
When a 37-year-old woman unexpectedly fell ill and died at the Lane Murray Unit lacking air conditioning in Gatesville on June 30, Rep. Terry Canales, a Democrat who sponsored the House-passed bill to address the heat crisis in Texas prisons, tried to get Abbott’s attention.
“@GovAbbott Another Dead Inmate! We ARE KILLING PEOPLE!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PAY ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!,” Canales tweeted.
We hope the governor and the Texas Senate heed Canales’ urgent message and permanently cool Texas prisons. Convicted Texas prisoners should pay their debt to society, but short of a jury’s decision, it shouldn’t be a death sentence.
Austin American-Statesman
