TEXAS, TX – Two-thirds of Texas state run jails and prisons (roughly 100) are not fully air conditioned in inmate housing areas, even though indoor temperatures in Texas over the summer can regularly top 95 to 100 degrees for multiple days on end, according to the Texas Standard.
The newspaper reports a recent internal investigation reveals Texas prison staff falsified records about temperatures in cells—the probe was triggered by a federal judge.
The Texas Standard writes that “inmates are suing the state, alleging the heat inside the state’s dozens of un-air conditioned prisons is dangerous.”
“Some temperatures logged by prison employees were far off the actual temperatures,” the report noted. On July 31, 2022, for example, the temperatures logged at the Stiles Unit were between 58 and 60 degrees “while the lowest actual recorded temperature for that day was 76 degrees, the Texas Standard.
What is most shocking about the investigation, according to Texas Standard, was “the warden and other prison leaders likely knew about or even consented to the falsification, the investigation concluded.”
The Texas Standard added that “the investigation, which honed in on recordkeeping at the Mark W. Stiles Unit in Beaumont over the summer of 2022, found prison staff ‘recreated’ logs that were missing or had been ‘defaced (e.g., doodles, stick figure cartoons, etc.) by staff.”’
Temperature readings “taken at units are important because they help prison department leaders decide when to implement emergency protocols. If the temperature tops 90 degrees, for example, inmates should get access to fans, extra water and cool showers,” wrote the Texas Standard.
The internal investigation was requested by a federal judge presiding over a case that challenged conditions inside of the state’s prisons, noted Texas Standard, adding an incarcerated man, Bernie Tiede, and numerous criminal justice advocacy groups are plaintiffs.
“During an August hearing in the lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman expressed doubt that the prison department’s temperature logs at the Stiles Unit were accurate. A log the department gave the judge showed that it got no hotter than 79 degrees at the Beaumont prison on a day in mid-July of 2022,” the Texas Standard reported.
The Texas Standard added the investigation was completed in November but was not made public until this week, noting the state’s Dept. of Justice sat on the report for four months.
The Texas Standard reported the department’s attorney filed a brief that acknowledged some prison temperature logs were inaccurate but that there was no intent to mislead.
According to the Texas Standard, Chris Cirrito, the chief audit executive for the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, carried out the investigation, noting “in his report, he found the Dept. of Criminal Justice did not intentionally deceive the judge because the falsified records were created before this case was filed.”
The Texas Standard wrote, “Department officials acknowledge it is hot inside its prisons but deny conditions are unconstitutional. During testimony in the case last year, Department Executive Director Bryan Collier argued it would be financially and logistically impossible to immediately install A/C in every one of the state’s prisons and noted that he is working diligently to fix the problem within their fiscal constraints.
“The heat is the fifth leading cause of serious injury among staff and may have contributed to the deaths of three inmates last summer. Incarcerated people report being forced to cool off by lying unclothed on the floor, splashing themselves with toilet water or even resorting to self harm to be moved to a prison’s air conditioned medical area.”
