‘Cooked to death’: Civil rights advocates sue TDCJ over heat

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A coalition of advocates and attorneys are suing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, accusing the nation’s largest prison system of exposing more than 85,000 prisoners to “tortuous heat conditions.”

The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court in Travis County to find the conditions inside uncooled TDCJ prisons unconstitutional and mandate air conditioning to keep temperatures at or below 85 degrees.

“Letting people suffer or die in prisons because of dangerous temperatures disregards our basic humanity,” former Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections Dean Williams said. “Cooling prisons to safe temperatures… is the only long-term solution that does not compromise the safety and lives of prisoners and staff.”

TDCJ adding air conditioning to more units following heat concerns

Out of TDCJ’s current population of 132,481 people, 45,496 beds are in air conditioning, according to figures provided by the department. That means TDCJ has enough air conditioning for one in three inmates. About 25,000 inmates are housed in units with no air conditioning at all.

The lawsuit alleges at least forty people died during last year’s record-hot summer. TDCJ has not reported a heat-related death since 2012, but a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association attributes 271 deaths to extreme heat between 2001 and 2019 — 13% of the deaths during warm months.

135 people died in Texas prisons; Families demand answers

On hot days, the heat index inside some TDCJ units can break 100 degrees. The lawsuit shares data from a TDCJ heat log that reported a heat index of “150+” degrees at one unit in 2011.

Last summer, a KXAN analysis of custodial death reports found at least 51 people died after sudden and unforeseen medical distress between June and August. Thirty-five people were pronounced dead after TDCJ staff found them unresponsive in their cells. Of those inmates, eight were determined to have died of cardiac arrest, one of cardiogenic shock, and the 27 others have “pending” or “unknown” causes of death. Twenty of those 35 people were under 50 years old.

The lawsuit argues that court intervention is necessary to address “TDCJ’s deliberate
indifference to the fact that extremely hot, indoor temperatures in prisons constitute cruel and unusual punishment.”

The parties behind the lawsuit will hold a virtual press conference at 2:30 p.m. Monday including State Representative Carl Sherman, Texas filmmaker Richard Linklater, and other activists, attorneys, and professors.

TDCJ declined to comment on pending litigation.

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