SEATTLE — A federal judge, along with advocacy groups, is pressing for prisons to install air conditioning due to dangerous and potentially deadly temperatures incarcerated people are enduring, according to an article by The Seattle Medium.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says “it has made efforts to mitigate heat inside its prisons during the summer months.” Lawyers and incarcerated individuals state those efforts are not enough, noting temperatures can reach as high as 149 degrees. They also argue that the conditions amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Jeff Edwards, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, states, “There is a dangerous condition that everybody in the leadership knows about: It’s extreme heat inside the prison system.”
The plaintiffs, consisting of “a group of advocacy organizations that represent inmates,
are requesting air-conditioning be installed in every inmate housing area in every state-run prison.” There are claims that more than 270 people died from heat exposure between 2001 and 2019.
The state “denied this allegation in pretrial court filings — though it has acknowledged heat-related deaths, albeit much fewer.”
An incarcerated person reported to CNN, “There’s people that have families in here that they’re trying to get back home to.”
TDCJ has refused to comment on the pending litigation.
The president of the Texas Prison Community Advocates, Amite Dominick, “has been fighting for the better part of a decade to change what she describes as unsafe conditions inside prisons.” Dominick co-authored a study in 2022 that stressed the weaknesses of current heat mitigation policies.
Dominick stated, “I didn’t think I’d be doing this job for 10 years. I really thought that by now we would have seen the humanity of it all, and the legislators would have already funded the money for this.”
There has been no response from the Texas attorney general’s office, which represents TDCJ.
Judge Robert Pitman, in a preliminary injunction, “stopped short of ordering a temporary air conditioning remedy.” However, he warned TDCJ that plaintiffs may be entitled to permanent relief, specifically in the form of air conditioning.
CNN spoke with incarcerated people at the Choice Moore Unit in Bonham, where they reported there was no air conditioning at all.
An incarcerated person at the Moore Unit stated, “It’s more or less like being in a tin can, and you’re under, I guess, a magnifying glass, and the heat radiated in.” The individual has been incarcerated at the prison for more than two years.
The same individual also described that during the summer, temperatures inside the prison exceed 120 degrees. He also said, “I’ve seen more of the incidents that, you know, occur of the violence or anything happening during the summer than any other time during the year.”
A second incarcerated person described pouring cold water onto himself to stay cool. A third described feeling anxious at the start of his time at the Choice Moore Unit. He said, “If you put a bunch of animals in a warehouse in the middle of summertime in the deep South, in Texas, where we are, I think that would be considered animal cruelty.”
Though there is “no air conditioning standard for TDCJ facilities, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, which was created by the Texas Legislature in 1975, requires county jails to be kept between 65 degrees Fahrenheit and 85 degrees Fahrenheit in occupied areas.”
A spokesperson for TDCJ told CNN that the agency is unable to comment on the ongoing litigation, but efforts are being made to ensure incarcerated people are kept cool within facilities.
As of today, “38 units are fully air-conditioned, with an additional 52 partially cooled,” according to TDCJ.
In 2018, TDCJ focused on implementing “cooling beds,” which are beds in air-conditioned areas. There are 52,000 cooling beds; however, there are more incarcerated people than available beds.
TDCJ states, “Over the last years, the agency has worked to increase the number of cool beds available. TDCJ is dedicated to continuing to add air-conditioned beds in our facilities.”
TDCJ has received $203 million for the installation of air conditioning. To cover all prisons, however, it would cost more than $1 billion.
With proper funding, by 2029 all prisons could have adequate air conditioning.
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